Crash
by nate23hales
Summary: AU. Nathan Scott goes off to High Flyers for the summer, leaving his rocky relationship behind. While at the camp, Nathan meets Haley James, who happens to be the coach's granddaughter. What will happen when the two embark on a summer romance?
1. Chapter 1

**1.**

Nathan placed his last folded shirt into his duffle bag before zipping it closed. He picked it up and tossed it in the corner with his larger suitcase and gym bag, which he hoped would be enough for the summer ahead of him. In the morning, Nathan would have to carry all of his bags downstairs and pack them in his father's Range Rover.

"That's the last of it," Nathan crossed his arms and let out a sigh. Then he turned to his girlfriend, Peyton Sawyer, who was sitting with her legs crossed on his bed. She was looking down and playing with her fingers nervously.

Nathan titled his head to the side, "What is it?"

"It just sucks that you're leaving for the entire summer tomorrow. I thought we would have time to actually spend it together." Peyton looked up from her chipped black nail polish on her fingers.

Nathan walked over and plopped himself next to her. "It won't be so bad, Peyton. We can write letters," he placed a hot wet kiss on her neck, "and webcam." He said huskily.

Peyton pushed him away. "Down, boy. I don't need your parents hearing us."

He sat up again. "Like that's ever stopped you before. Come on, are you sure you're going to last three months without having sex with me?"

"I've lived without it before." She stated.

Nathan held up his hands in surrender and let out a chuckle. "All right. What do you suggest we do then? We did get invited to the River Court for my farewell party tonight. Are you up for it?"

"I don't know. I thought we were going to spend your last night together."

Nathan shrugged. "I kind of want to spend it with all the guys. I am going to the best basketball camp in the state and I can't talk about basketball with you."

During his sophomore year, Nathan's father, Dan Scott, contacted scouts from an elite high school basketball camp called High Flyers. One of the scouts had come to one of last year's playoff games to watch Nathan play. Dan felt that his son was more than qualified for a spot. The camp only allowed one student per school to participate so Nathan had to make sure that none of his teammates tried to outshine him. His efforts definitely seemed to impress the scout. A couple of weeks ago Nathan had received his acceptance letter in the mail and couldn't wait to go so he could play with other talented players.

"Sorry, I just think there's more important things in life than shooting a ball through a hoop."

Nathan was tired of hearing Peyton depict at the sport that he loved to play. It was what got him on the map at school and it was something that he could connect with his father through. The court was where he could show off his talent and be known as the best.

Nathan stood up from his bed showing his annoyance. "Let me guess, we were just going to sit in your room and listen to your loser rock? That doesn't sound like the night I want to have before I leave."

As always, Nathan regretted what he said to her. Music and art were what basketball was to him. Plus, being the guy that he was, knew that there was potential make up sex involved.

He walked over and put his hands on her thin waist. "Look, I'm sorry I said that. I just want to have some fun tonight. Okay, Peyton?" His voice was softer in order to get her to forgive him.

She didn't respond as his lips decided that it was fine to just devour hers. Like always, she gave into his sloppy kisses. Peyton couldn't stand whenever she and Nathan fought. She stayed with him through much worse fights. A major part of why they were still in their relationship was because Peyton didn't like being alone. Her mother had passed away when she was younger and her father was somewhere out at sea.

Nathan pulled away and dropped his hold on her tiny frame. Then he walked over to his desk to pick up his keys. He pulled off his shirt and discarded it on the floor before rummaging through what was left of his unpacked wardrobe for a clean polo shirt. It was like Peyton wasn't even around as he walked out of the room and hurried down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Peyton followed him out and crossed her arms over her chest. She stood at the top of the stairs and caught him as he was opening his front door.

"To go meet the guys." He said sounding clueless and acting innocent. "What?"

"So you were just going to leave me here?"

"No. He quickly looked through the small space where he was able to open the door to. "You came over in your car, which I actually need you to move so I can pull out of the driveway so I can get out." His blue eyes looked back to her angry and annoyed green ones.

"You are unbelievable, you know that?" She said grumpily as she walked down the stairs.

"I didn't know this was going to be such a huge deal. Give me your keys and I'll just move it myself."

"What happened to the Nathan Scott that just apologized to me upstairs? You're like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Ass."

Nathan shrugged and slammed the door behind him. He got in his car and waited for Peyton to take her sweet time to move her car.

He didn't know how the almost 2 year relationship had turned into this. They used to be able to have a great time together. That mostly contained making out, which led to other activities. All the two ever did was fight, feel guilty, and hook up. Nathan was tired of it and he knew that Peyton was, too. Nathan didn't want the relationship to end because he was selfish and reflected on their good times together.

Going to High Flyers for the entire summer was probably going to do them both some good. It would give them a break from seeing each other everyday and give them time to focus on having a memorable summer before their final year of high school had to start.

He watched as Peyton walked past his car and he let out a frustrated sigh as he placed his head against his headrest. His eyes traveled to his mirror, where he could see her back up her car quickly and speed away. The screech of her tires could be heard as she made a turn down the road.

Nathan started up his car, which instantly was filled with the sound of his radio's bass system as hip-hop music blared through his speakers. As Peyton did, Nathan pressed hard on the gas to get out of the driveway.

.

"Yo, look who finally decided to show!" Skills shouted as Nathan slammed his car door shut.

His friends and team members hung around the bleachers with a few coolers filled with beers.

"What took you so long?" Skill motioned to their friend, Tim, to toss Nathan a can of beer. "Was Peyton giving you some special goodbye?"

Nathan caught the beer and shook his head as the can hissed when he opened it. "Peyton's not too happy with me right now. She kind of wanted to spend time alone together before I leave tomorrow."

"And you chose to sit around and drink beer with us? You could be gettin' some right now. Man, you're an idiot." He set his empty can on the bleachers and grabbed a full one.

"She'll understand eventually that I wanted to spend the night with you guys because I'm not going to be around for three months. I thought you would appreciate the gesture."

"I'd appreciate you more if you were having sex with your girlfriend right now."

Nathan smirked as he took another sip from his can. Having sex with Peyton was something he was too used to. Whenever they had it they were either bored or pissed off at each other. There was never a time where they were doing it because of how they felt about each other, which Nathan didn't truly know the answer to. All he was convinced about was that he was too young to fully love another person.

"I'm going to miss you, too, Skills." Nathan joked.

"Whatever you say. This puts you in the same class as Tim, you know. You're the white boys who ain't getting' any of the group." He shrugged.

"Cool, I'm finally on the same level as you, Nate." Tim hopped off the bleachers to give Nathan a high five.

Nathan just shook his head and finished off his beer. "I can't believe I might even miss you. There aren't going to be guys like you at High Flyers."

"Yeah, he's going to be with the big dawgs." Skills nodded as he picked up the basketball and began to dribble it. "They ain't got what I got, though. Street cred." Skills shot the ball and it sailed straight through the next.

Nathan tossed his can aside while the other guys stood up from the bleachers to start up a game of basketball.

"Instead of shooting for teams how 'bout we shoot for who gets stuck wit Tim? Then again, I had his ass last time, but since this is your party I guess I'll just take him." Skills said.

"You've got to give him some props, Skills. Whitey did give him a spot on varsity with the rest of us." Nathan explained as he walked over to stand across from Skills.

"The old man's crazy." Skills said as he checked the ball over to Nathan.

"I know. He picked you, too." Nathan checked the ball back.

"Well aren't you the king of talkin' smack?" Skills said as he caught the ball.

"You got that right," Nathan rushed in front of Skills and was able to get the ball from his grasp. He dribbled the ball and jumped up to dunk the ball. To show off, he hung on for a few seconds. "I am the king," he said as his feet touched the ground.

.

He returned home late last night and barely had the chance to fall into a deep sleep. Just as he felt like his body was giving in, his father barged into his room to tell him to hurry and get the car packed up. Another reason why he couldn't wait to head off to High Flyers was because he got to be away from his overbearing father for the summer.

The last bag was piled up in the back of the black Range Rover. Nathan pulled the trunk down. At the sound of a car horn, Nathan turned around. Peyton pulled up to the side of the street and sat in her car.

Nathan looked to see if his father was coming out of the house. The coast was clear so he walked down to Peyton's car. "I didn't think you were going to stop by." Nathan stopped by her door and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I didn't think I was going to either. Look, things have sucked between us lately, Nathan, and I just want to know that things aren't going to continue to go on like that."

"I hate how it is between us, too. I don't want it to be like this." He took his hands out of his pockets and rested them on top of her door. He put his body weight on his hands as he leaned forward. "We'll be us again, Peyton. I promise. When I get back things will be good again."

"God, I hope you're right."

"They will be." He smirked and leaned in to kiss her. When she accepted he tried to push his tongue passed her teeth.

"Nathan, let's get going!" The teens pulled apart at the bellowing of Dan Scott.

"I better see you on my webcam." Nathan gave her a quick peck on the lips and sent her a wink as he walked back to where his father was waiting for him.

Nathan opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat, next to his father. Dan turned to him after Peyton drove away in her Comet.

"This is going to be great for you. Now, you will have complete focus on basketball with no distractions from that girl of those lunatics you associate yourself with. You're a winner, Nate, and you should be surrounding yourself with other winners."

Nathan ignored his father's advice and placed his headphones over his ears. He closed his wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and fall asleep as long as he didn't have to spend the two-hour drive listening to his father. Luckily, he was able to do just that.

With a yawn, the raven-haired boy woke up. He shifted in his seat as he glanced at the clock. Nearly two hours had gone by since his body let his exhaustion take control of him.

"There's the entrance to the athletics building. I wonder if the workout room is connected to it," his father pointed to the large building with the foyer as they pulled into the drop of parking lot.

When the car was parked Nathan got our to stretch. If the program was going to start right away, his current sleeping position was going to bite him in the ass.

Dan handed him his duffle bag while he rolled his suitcase and carried his gym bag in his other hand. Dan seemed very proud as a smile graced his face and his eyes seemed to light up like a child going to Disney World for the first time. Nathan traveled in the back and occasionally looked around.

"This is your room, son. It looks like you beat your roommate so you have a chance to claim the better half." Dan looked at Nathan's acceptance letter that held all of the information on it. He set the gym bag next to his suitcase, which he left by the door.

Nathan carelessly tossed his bag on the bed he was standing next to. He turned his music off and glanced around the room. The layout of the camp and the rooms reminded him of a college type setting. The room was the size of a nicer hotel room. Downstairs there was a lobby, swimming pool, and cafeteria.

In the hall, he could her the mixed chatter of the others who arrived shortly after they did. He couldn't wait for his father to leave so he could choose the guys that he wanted to tolerate.

A knock on the door made Nathan look up from his feet. A boy with dirty blonde hair stood in the doorway. He had the same colored eyes as he and his father. He walked in with a woman that Nathan guessed was his mother.

"You must be Lucas' roommate." She kindly said. "I'm his mother, Karen Roe." She offered out her hand for Nathan to shake.

Nathan accepted it. "I'm Nathan and this," he pointed over to his father, who was still in the process of checking every inch of the room, "is my father, Dan Scott."

At the mention of his name, Dan came back over to the small group. "My boy is the top player in the state. Aren't you, son?" He said as he shook her hand.

"Sure, Dad." Nathan looked over to Lucas, who shook his head. So far, Nathan liked whom he was going to be rooming with.

"Well. I'll let you get settled in, Lucas." Karen walked over and quickly gave Lucas a hug and kiss on the cheek. "It was nice meeting you, Nathan." Karen rubbed his arm as she left the room.

Dan stalked over to his son. "You have an orientation tomorrow morning. I want you to be the first one there so the coach knows that you're serious about this. Then I want you to call me and tell me everything." He gave his son a firm handshake, and ignored Lucas, before leaving, too.

Nathan rested on his bed. "I'm sorry about my father, man. He's normally a rude bastard."

Lucas let out a chuckle. "Don't worry about it. Which school are you from?"

"Tree Hill High. Have you heard of it?"

"The Tree Hill Ravens? Yeah, we played you in the regular season. It was the game right before the playoffs."

"So that makes you," Nathan bit his lips as he thought back to the game Lucas mentioned, "a Falcon?"

Lucas nodded as he started pulling items out of one of his bags. He picked up a picture frame and set it on the shared nightstand. "I hope you don't mind. My girlfriend doesn't want me to forget about her. She's worried that I'll get hit in the head with a ball and lose my memory."

Nathan leaned over to look. The picture was of a brunette girl with hazel eyes and huge smile. She was in her cheerleading uniform and posed on what appeared to be Lucas' bed. "She's hot," Nathan commented.

"That's an understatement. Her name's Brooke. We've been dating since our freshman year. She's the cheer squad captain." Lucas turned the frame away from Nathan. "What about you? Got a girlfriend back home?"

"Yep, Peyton. We're almost at the two-year mark. She beat up our cheer captain and likes to draw and listen to weird ass music." He let out a laugh at his explanation.

"Sounds like the perfect girl for you." Lucas joked.

He shrugged. "Yeah, she doesn't sound like Brooke, but she's like the only girl I can actually stand to be around. I go out and party and I have all these girls who try and flirt with me. I can't do anything about it because of Peyton."

Lucas sat down on the side of his bed. "I used to have that problem until everyone knew that Brooke was my girlfriend. Now, girls have to be careful about even looking my way."

It was easy to tell that Nathan and Lucas were going to get along just fine. The two continued to share crazy stories about things they did with their friends and girlfriends back at home.

"Man, is it weird that I already wish that we went to the same high school together?" Nathan asked.

"Sort of, but then only one of use would be here right now and I think it would be me." Lucas said.

Nathan shook his head in disagreement. "I don't think so. If I remember correctly, you had quite a few turnovers in the game we played against each other. I haven't had one the entire season. There's no way the scout would have picked you over me."

"I guess we'll have to see about that when we get on the court then, Scott. A little friendly competition for the summer?" Lucas offered Nathan's his fist to bump.

"Deal." His fist collided with Lucas.

After a while, Lucas left to use the phone to call Brooke. Nathan rested his head on his pillow and tried to get more rest. So far, he didn't want his summer to end. This place was practically his paradise.

**There's the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review! **


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

This was where he couldn't wait to be. Nathan had been in many gyms and they have never made him feel like he was a true athlete. He could guess that some of the other guys would picture this as any other gym. That didn't mean that they didn't deserve to be in it. Some are born with the natural talent of being able to perform and some had to work like hell just to achieve the satisfaction of being able to do something. Either way, all those people were now going to be together for three whole months showing each other that they were the best. They were all big fish overflowing a puddle of water.

He looked to his left and then over to his right. All the guys looked exhausted as he tried to remember if he had played against any of them like he did with Lucas. None of the faces seemed to match up. Maybe if they were livelier, then he could tell easier.

All the attention shifted once the doors echoed, as they slammed closed. As the older man walked down towards the middle of the gym, the postures of every teenage boy shifted to make it seem like they were going to be attentive for whatever he had to say. Three younger men followed the man. One was a personal trainer and the other was the on-deck medical technician for minor injuries. The last one was the scout that Nathan recalled meeting at the game he played to get into High Flyers.

The older man passed his clipboard over to the scout. "Welcome to High Flyers, gentlemen. I am Coach James. You can just call me Coach or Sir will do just fine. You all know why you are here," he motioned his hand and pointed at every teenager sitting before him. "I was your age once and at the prime of my talent so I know that seventeen and eighteen year olds can be quite cocky. That's all fine and dandy until you let your cockiness get the best of you. By that time I'll start to worry and you should, too. This is going to be different from your routine high school practices, which for some of you it's already brutal. You have the talent and we're here to help you shape yourselves to become that all-star player that college scouts will be looking for."

Before Coach James had a chance to continue the attention shifted when they heard the doors make that same echo. A girl with cascading waves of golden hair walked towards the coach and the others.

The coach turned to her when she was next to him. "What seems to be the problem?" His voice was softer in order for the boys to be unable to hear him.

She dug in her pocket and pulled out a tiny capsule. "Grandma sent me because you forgot to take your morning medication." She placed it in his palm. "I was also instructed not to leave until I have proof that you swallowed it. No holding it under your tongue this time, Grandpa."

He let out a sigh and mumbled to the medical assistant to grab him a bottle of water. "Your grandma worries too much. It's no big deal if I miss one tiny pill."

She chuckled. "I'm sure you will be. You know there's no convincing her. Just take it."

Coach James cleared his throat and faced the group of younger boys, "while we wait for Mr. Evans, who is out medical and physical therapist, to return I'd like to introduce you boys to the rest of the men and my granddaughter, Haley. She will be assisting me from time to time. Now, I expect you all to know the proper way to treat girls. Then again, you are here to focus on your skills as a basketball player and not a pick up artist. Haley, why don't you say hi to the boys and go around to the other building and make sure that the kitchen workers are setup for these boys."

Haley nodded and waved to the group as she left the gym.

A few sets of eyes followed her as she left the gym. One of those pairs was cerulean blue and belonged to Nathan. There was no doubt that she was attractive, but Nathan wasn't here to get to know the coach's family. He was here for the sport. Plus, he made a promise to Peyton that things were going to change for them when he returned back home. He didn't know exactly how, but he was certain that they would.

The boy known as Mr. Evans returned a few minutes later and handed the coach his bottle. He quickly put his hand to his mouth and took a small sip of water from it.

"The delay is over so let's return back to our task. This," he pointed to Mr. Evans, "is Clayton Evans. He recently graduated and is certified in sports medicine and physical therapy. Any minor injuries are going to be taken care of by him. We hope that that wont happen, but he is here incase anything does."

Coach James pointed down the line and to his right, "During your stay you are to keep up with your physical health and strength. The workout room is open until 9:30 PM. Our onsite physical trainer is Andy Stephenson. He will be there to make sure you are not over doing your workouts or goofing off.

"The last man should be recognizable to all of you. This is the man that picked you our from all the high school players in North Carolina. Please give your gratitude to Bobby Duncan. The reason he is here is to keep tabs on your progress and maybe even make calls to some colleges. It all depends on what you do from now until the program is over. Your future is in your hands. Whether or not you benefit from our help is all up to you.

"Tomorrow you're uniforms will be issued and your lockers will be assigned. The locker room is located across the hallway. Upstairs is the weight deck and next to that is our other exercise room, which is mainly focusing on your cardiovascular workouts. Take advantage of all of this and we'll meet back here tomorrow at the same time. For now, get to know each other, if you haven't already. My office is in the locker room and their offices are indicated on the bulletin board by the gym's entrance. " He nodded to show that he was finished.

After he was done talking, Coach James and the rest of the staff circled and started discussing how tomorrow was going to run.

Lucas leaned over to talk to Nathan. "Everything seems pretty self-explanatory. I thought we'd start playing today."

Nathan nodded in agreement. "That would have been nice. My guess is we'll be doing a free play tomorrow so the coach can see us as individuals before he teams us up." Nathan took another look at the boys he would be spending most of his time with. They had spilt off into their own groups. He guessed that they all had a chance to meet while Nathan was catching up on his sleep.

"Scott!" A voice shouted his name. Then a chuckle followed as a brunette sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "If it isn't Nathan Scott."

"And you are?"

His firmly stuck out his hand. "The name's Damien West. I'm from Bear Creek Academy. Rumor has it you were accepted to High Flyers. I wasn't going to believe it until I saw it for myself. I always thought they were going to pick Taylor."

Nathan didn't accept Damien's gesture. How did the news travel that he was coming to High Flyers. None of the other guys approached. When he met Lucas, he didn't mention that he knew he was coming and he didn't even know his name. There was something about Damien that Nathan already didn't like.

Damien withdrew his hand. "I just thought I'd introduce myself so you knew the name of the guy who was going to be ruling the court."

"Didn't you hear the coach? This isn't high school. Now, how did you find out about me, West? Are you such a huge fan that you Googled me?" Nathan bit back his annoyance.

"You wish. We played a division title game against you. You probably don't remember it because you were benched for skipping class. I overheard your butterball of a coach."

Lucas cut in, "now, I remember you. You're the one who kept making fouls and you suck at making free throws. How did you even get scouted?"

Damien's hand dropped from Nathan's shoulder. "I was recommended by my coach. Who are you?"

"Lucas Roe. The Falcons played you in the regular season. I think you've met my girlfriend, Brooke Davis?"

Damien put his hand on his chin, pretending not to know who Brooke was.

"Don't act dumb, West. You hit on her during the game."

"Oh yeah, how is she?" He asked while licking his lips.

Lucas didn't answer. Instead he rolled his eyes and shook his head. Out of all people to be stuck with for three months, it just had to be Damien West.

"I should get back to my crew. See you on the court, Scott. Lucas, let me know when Brooke's free to finish what we started." Damien stood up and climbed back up the bleachers to sit with his friends.

Lucas let out a sigh. "I hate that guy."

Nathan let out a chuckle. "Don't worry. I do, too."

.

.

Lucas and Nathan went to the other building to grab lunch. During lunch Nathan asked Lucas more about Damien West. From Lucas' description Damien didn't have the greatest character, which reminded Nathan of how he sometimes was. Damien thought of everything as his. Lucas almost got in a brawl during their game with Damien because he caught Damien talking to Brooke. Brooke didn't looked to please with his gesture and she pushed him away. Damien was going to push back, but Lucas got to Damien before he had the chance to touch her.

"Your coach must have been thrilled by that." Nathan commented as he took a bite from his food.

"He yelled at me and told me to focus on the game and not my girlfriend. When the game was over he did say that he liked me showing that punk a lesson." Lucas shrugged as he put a fry into his mouth.

"Whitey would probably just do the yelling. Personal issues are to be left behind as soon as that jersey goes on. Even if Peyton ever did actually come to a game, I don't think I'd be thinking about her at all. Basketball just takes control of me."

"You've been dating for almost two years and she hasn't come to a single one of your games?" His voice was full of shock.

"That's right. She tends to think basketball is a pointless sport. It's not the support that I wish I had with her being my girlfriend and all."

"It's not the same for everybody. I think Brooke only knows so much about it is because she has to go to every game. Plus, she likes seeing me doing what I love and for…other reasons."

Nathan smirked. "Okay, that's a sign that we should stop talking about our girlfriends. That doesn't mean I'm disgusted by sex because that's far from the truth. I just don't need to picture you naked."

Lucas let out a laugh. "That would be your first thought? I'm not sure if I want to be your roommate anymore."

Nathan tossed one of his fries. "Let's get back to being serious."

"I was being serious. It's you that turned everything weird."

"Whatever. What time do you usually like to workout? I thought we could train together. It could add to our friendly competition." Nathan asked him as he raised his brow.

Lucas shrugged. "In the morning or the afternoon. I haven't made a routine out of it, but I probably should here."

"That's where we're opposite. I usually go running with my dad pretty early in the morning. He had a small gym built in our house and we'd workout together. It was hell." He explained as he finished the rest of his meal.

"I'd gladly take his place. Speaking of your father, would he kill you if you didn't call him about orientation?"

Nathan rested his elbows on the table and out his face in his hands. "Shit." He uncovered his face. "Thanks for the dreadful reminder. I'll go do that now and meet you back in the room."

"Sounds like a plan. Do you mind if I use your laptop to send Brooke an email?"

Nathan stood up and grabbed his tray. "Sure, go ahead. That's all you better be doing."

Lucas let out a chuckle. "I promise to stay clean." He stood up as well. "I'll see you back upstairs." He walked over and tossed his trash away before leaving the cafeteria.

Nathan threw his away, too, and walked over to the phone to call his father. His father probably knew the exact time that the orientation ended and was waiting by the phone to tell him how irresponsible he was.

"Here goes nothing," Nathan mumbled as he heard the phone ring. With each ring, Nathan's body grew tenser.

"_I thought I was never going to hear from you." His father spoke deeply._

"Sorry, Lucas and I were hungry so we stopped to get something to eat."

"_I told you to call me before you did anything else." He let out a frustrated sigh. "Were you at least the first one to arrive?"_

"There were two others in the gym before I arrived. It's no big deal. The coach wasn't even there for another twenty minutes." Nathan justified.

"_I could care less about what time he arrived. This is about you. You have to go above and beyond to make sure that nobody else can outdo you." _

Nathan shook his head shamefully. His father was always pushing him too far. He didn't understand why he was so keen on Nathan to be untouchable. Nathan already thought he was an outstanding basketball player, but in his father's eyes he wasn't even close. To Dan, he had never been seen as outstanding. He was just great at playing ball.

"_Did you do any sprints or take any shots? I think the coach should see how you play offensively before he put you on defense." _

"We haven't started any of that yet. He introduced us to the guys who would be helping us out. Jerseys are issued out tomorrow, so I'm guessing that nothing will start until then."

"_You obviously have free time until then. I want you in the gym working on your shots and I want you in the weight room when you're finished doing that. Then in the morning you should run a few miles."_

"Dad, it's not an open gym type deal. I already made plans with Lucas and some of the other guys." He lied.

"_You shouldn't slack off. You weren't picked because of that. The scout would have ignored you and you would have made a fool out of me because I called and told them how great you are."_

Great. There was that word again. Once again, his father was making this all about himself. Nathan wasn't picked because he was Dan Scott's son. He couldn't wait to break that image and he wished his father wasn't constantly comparing him to how he used to be. He wasn't that way anymore and he should move on from the past.

"This isn't about you. They picked me because I played my ass off in that game. You had nothing to do with this. If you haven't called I'm sure Whitey would have recommended me for the program and made that call himself."

_Dan let out his dark eerie laugh. "You really think Whitey would do that? Do you not remember being benched?"_

Nathan felt his anger rising. He didn't want to argue with his father over the phone. The other guys would surely get a kick out of hearing Nathan yell into the phone.

"It was once. Whitey's old enough to forget about it, unlike you. I'm tired of talking to you so I'm just going to enjoy my time being away." He forcefully hung up the phone. His jaw felt tight from being clenched. There was more that he wanted to say to his father, but he'd rather say it to his face.

Nathan wasn't ready to go back to the room. He wanted to blow off some steam, so he decided to go outside and walk to the other building to go to the one place that brought him some peace of mind. There was a light breeze, but it couldn't reverse the effects of the sun or Nathan's boiling blood.

Once Nathan made it inside, he walked back to the gym and sat on the bleachers. His knee bounced as his anger still bubbled and ran through his veins. Leave it to his father to make him feel miserable when he was finally feeling happy and free.

His father was that monster for as long as he could remember. Ever since he first took an interest in the sport and picked up a basketball, his father was right on his heels. Dan taught him everything he knew and bragged that he could do it better than Nathan. There were times when Nathan tried to imagine where his life would be if he never picked up the ball. How would his father compete with him then? Dan would probably try to beat the sport into his brain and get Nathan to love it. Nathan wouldn't feel the same knowing he fell in love with basketball in the unnatural way.

All thoughts and negative feelings were interrupted when he heard the sound of crashing and somebody stumbling. Curiosity took over him and he stood up. On the other end of the gym and hidden next to the bleachers were two tall heavy doors. The light was on and one door was latched open.

Before stepping inside, Nathan looked over his shoulder to see if anyone else was around.

The sight in front of him was the wavy haired blond, which was now up in a loose ponytail. Her back was to him and she appeared to be struggling while trying to reach something off a high shelf.

"Here, let me help you get that." He walked up behind her and reached his arms over to her to grab the air compressor. It was quite weighted. He was glad that she hadn't lost her balance if she had gotten to it. The closeness between them made his breath hitch in his throat. To give her space, he quickly backed away to a more respectful distance.

"You would think there were some kind of perks to being short. Luckily, every guy here is rather tall." She babbled to herself, but Nathan heard her perfectly.

She turned to face him and she smiled, "Thanks for doing that. There was no way that I was ever going to get that thing down."

"It's no big deal." He looked down to her red hooded sweatshirt with the word 'Chicago' ironed across it. He cleared his throat, "So are you a Bulls fan?" When he didn't get an answer straight away, he pointed to her sweatshirt.

Her eyes looked down and she let out a small laugh.

The instant sound of her innocent laugh made Nathan feel warm and his palms felt clammy.

"Just because my grandfather happens to be a coach and I help around the camp doesn't mean that I actually pay attention to basketball. I went to Chicago once with him a few years ago. The sky was clear blue without a cloud in it and the city was beautiful at night because all the building were lit up. Do you ever just think about that? I just wanted a memory of that entire day. I bet that sounds completely girlish and silly." She explained.

Nathan shook his head. He carefully handed the compressor over to her, which she set down beside her. "I've been to games with my father and it was all about the stadiums and the teams, not about the cities. The only lights that lit up the darkness were the sea of headlights from the traffic."

"That's a shame because you were missing out on some pretty breathtaking scenery." Her pink lips formed into smile just for him. "I should get going because I should continue helping out my grandfather prepare for tomorrow. Thanks for helping me. I was glad that you happened to be around. It was nice meeting you. Um, I didn't catch your name."

"Oh," he scratched the back of his neck and offered his hand out to her, hoping that she would take it, "I'm Nathan Scott."

"Well, Nathan Scott, I'm Haley James. You probably already knew that if you were actually listening to my grandfather talk." She told him as she shook his hand.

Her hand was smaller and softer than his. Part of playing ball all the time created a roughness to his hands.

She dropped his hand and picked up the compressor. He wanted to walk over to her and help her again, but she seemed to do fine without him. "I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow, Scott." She walked past him and left the large supply closet.

As she was leaving, for the first time, Nathan could say that he actually had a chance at a moment to check out the breathtaking scenery that happened to be standing in front of him.

.

.

Nathan returned to his room. When he entered he noticed that Lucas was lounged on his bed and he was watching TV. Lucas sat up and turned off he TV at the sight of his roommate.

"You were gone for a long time." Lucas noted the obvious. "Did your dad want orientation word for word?"

Nathan let out a small sigh. "My father and I just don't really see eye to eye on many things. My basketball ability is the number one thing that we seem to disagree on."

"I'm sorry about that." Lucas apologized.

"It's no use." Nathan walked over and sat down on a chair, next to the large window. "What's your father like? Is he anything like mine?"

"I never met him. My mom raised me all on her own without help from her parents or anyone else. She told me that he left when she was six months pregnant because he wasn't ready to be a father. My mom did everything that she could for me and because of that I think I'm better off not knowing him."

Nathan was surprised that Lucas never knew what it was like to have a father around. He wished that Lucas would say that his father was caring and supportive of him, so he knew that there was better out there. From what Nathan only knew, Karen did a great job with Lucas.

"Well, your dad should meet mine some time because I don't think he was ever ready to be a father either." He admitted to Lucas. Peyton didn't even know that hidden secret.

"I wish your father luck on trying to find him and if he does he can let mine know that he was never needed in the first place." Lucas told him bitterly.

For the first time Nathan felt a drifting tension between him and Lucas. He decided it would be best if they stopped being so personal until later when they could trust each other more.

After a moment, Lucas cleared his throat. "While you were wherever you were, your laptop was making a noise." He motioned over to the table, where Nathan's computer sat.

Nathan leaned back in the chair and stretched out his arms. Then he rested them behind his head. "It was probably just Peyton. I'll just email her tonight and tell her that I was busy or something."

"I hope she believes you because Brooke never would. If I'm too simple with her or my answers sound too perfect, then she will think something bad was going on. Luckily, it's all guys here or I'd be dead." He joked.

"Yeah," Nathan nodded. There was one girl that hadn't left his thoughts since he met her in the supply closet. He found that it was strange that when he was with her that he forgot all about the anger towards his father and more importantly, Peyton.

.

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**AN: **I was blown away by the response from the first chapter. Thank you SO much for all of your reviews. They brought a smile to my face. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

**3.**

The scoreboard on the wall counted down every second of every minute. A second doesn't seem too long, but there are other things that are even faster than a second. Inside each athlete there was a racing heartbeat. If the large red numbers could count down the pace, then it might look like time was going to die as soon as it would hit zero. Time would travel so fast that any important moment wouldn't exist and it wouldn't even be allowed to enter a person's memory. There was one heart in particular that wasn't just beating from a heavy overload of work. This heart also beat with a sense of pride; something that it hadn't felt in a long time.

The whistle blew again, indicating that the boys only had a brief moment to sprint to the other side of the gym before the clock hit zero. If there was a boy who didn't make it, the clock would be reset. Endurance wasn't the only thing being tested in this exercise. Coach James wanted to see if anyone would try to push himself over the limit of exhaustion. From the perspective of a spectator or any of the boys, it seemed like Coach James was abusing his right as a coach and running them until the heart didn't know how to beat anymore. The only lesson being taught here was learning the there were no limitations as long as a person was able to push through whatever was slowing them down. A human heart was the greatest test subject.

"All right, boys, bring it on in!" Coach James shouted and waved his hand to lead the young men to him.

There was a silent prayer of relief when they heard that the misery was over. The boys were breathing so heavily that if they tried to talk all that would come out were gasps for life.

Sweat dripped from Nathan's entire body, as well as the rest of the guys, and all he wanted to do was rest his hands on his knees and try to be the only one in control of his breathing. High Flyers went from paradise to hell in under two days.

"I see it. I see it in you. Every muscle in your body is probably on fire right now, and that's what it going to feel like after every practice. Now, I am not going to be a dictator and do this to you everyday. I am not an unethical man. I have done this routine for many years and I have never had a single boy die on my court." He stopped and looked at his watch. "You have about twenty minutes left so grab something to hydrate yourselves and then return back here and walk laps around the court. There is no doubt that you might not be able to move in the morning. Take it slow and ease though it. The body is going to take time to be conditioned to this new way of work. Get going and get back. You have five minutes."

Nathan looked around briefly for Lucas. During the sprints, Nathan and Lucas decided not to be next to each other because they thought that it would distract them from focusing on themselves. Their friendly competition would have to wait until they were able to actually play.

He found Lucas sitting on the bleachers. "Hey, man. I was going to go to the water fountain and maybe the locker room to get my wallet. Did you want anything?" Nathan asked as he patted Lucas on the shoulder.

Lucas looked up to see Nathan. "Sure,"

Nathan offered Lucas his hand to help him stand up. After he pulled Lucas to his feet, the two boys exited the gym eager to regain hydration.

"The coach was right when he warned us that practice would be brutal. Sure, we do the occasional suicides, but that's usually when he's pissed at us or if we lost a game." Lucas explained to Nathan.

Nathan nodded. "My coach can be quite a hard ass sometimes, too. Usually, there's always some kind of hidden lesson behind why he does certain things. My mind can't really focus on his symbolisms because I'm trying to get through his crazy exercises."

"I don't get that. If I wanted a lesson, then I'd pay attention in class. I joined the team because I love basketball and I can actually handle the ball."

Nathan stopped when he got to the drinking fountain. It seems the entire camp was resorted to the one fountain, even though there were two. The problem was that the other one was too short for them to reach. A smile formed on his face when he thought about what Haley had said about perks to being short.

"Nate, the line's moving." Lucas waved his hand in Nathan's face. "Are you okay? You got a dumb look on your face."

"Yeah, sorry," Nathan muttered as he moved forward. He scratched at his temple. What was Haley James doing in his thoughts? Their brief encounter was nothing special. He had to admit that he felt a bit funny around her, which he never felt around a girl before. Usually, girls were the ones who acted all giddy around him and he found that annoying. Girls were Nathan Scott's specialty, well at least being able to get them. Understanding them was something he had yet to grasp.

After waiting in line, Nathan was finally able to feel relief when the cold water hit his dry throat. As he swallowed he could feel as the water traveled down into his stomach.

He stood upright and did a quick turn away from the line to let Lucas have his turn. As he walked out, he bumped into somebody. Nathan guessed that it was just that punk, Damien West, preparing to compare his performance to his own. He looked to see that he was wrong.

Haley was bent over picking up the empty bottles that she had dropped. She was always klutzy. "I shouldn't have been rushing and I didn't even see you bulldozing into me." She hadn't made eye contact with the force that made her stumble.

Nathan knelt down and picked up on of the bottles. He reached out to hand it to her.

"Thanks," she muttered as she took the bottle from him. She moved her hair out of her face and peered up. When she did a bright smile formed on her face. "It's you again. Are you stalking me, Scott?"

Nathan shook his head. "I promise I'm not. I was thinking that you were the one stalking me."

"I don't have the time to follow your every move." Haley continued picking up the bottles. She stood up when she finished.

Nathan looked at the number of bottles that Haley had in her arms. The coach must really have work cut out for his petite granddaughter. First, he had her lifting heavy items that she couldn't even reach. Now, she was carrying close to twelve bottles. There was no way that she was going to be able to carry all of them when they were full.

He looked over his shoulder to see that Lucas was talking to another player. "Do you need any help?" He asked as he caught one of the bottled that popped out of her grasp.

She let out her angelic laugh. "You can stop coming to my rescue. Plus, I don't think Coach will be too happy with you if you miss practice or if he sees you with me. You think he's a tough coach? Well, you haven't seen him as the protective grandfather yet." She piled the bottles into her other arm and put pressure against her chest to keep herself from dropping them again. Her delicate hand took the bottle from Nathan.

"All right," he let out a chuckle. "It's your loss."

"I'll be fine. I've done this so many times before. I'm used to the independent thing. If I do have any trouble, I'll make sure to show up in front of you and spill them all." She joked with the smile still showing on her soft features.

"Just don't get the water on my shoes." Nathan joked back.

"With my track record, you never know." She shrugged. Then she let out a sigh and turned over to the group of boys. "I'd hurry it up if I were you boys. Five minutes means five minutes." She told them, not only to keep them for getting her grandfather worked up, but also to make them get out of her way.

"Thanks for looking out for us, Princess." Damien walked out from the middle of the group with his arms folded across his chest.

Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me? First off, don't call me Princess because from the looks of you, you definitely aren't prince material and your charm seems pretty fake and overused. Secondly, I don't fall for any of cheap flirting." Haley told him. She wanted nothing more than to bounce bottles off of this guy's head, but with her aim she wanted to spare herself the embarrassment and keep the upper hand.

Nathan sent a smirk over to Damien. Another reason why Nathan was so amused was because of the way Haley seemed to be able to handle herself. It reminded him of Peyton's spitfire personality around the other girls at school.

"With that attitude I can't imagine any guy wanting to flirt with you. I guess it could be from your hot ass body. Ever think of wearing a skirt to show off some skin?" Damien flashed a smirk of his own, "Oh, yeah, I can see that." He licked his lips.

"How about you show some respect, West?" Nathan found himself shouting. He found himself getting upset that Damien thought he could say those things to a girl that he knew nothing about. The words were only supposed to remain a thought, but they were hanging from his tongue.

Haley looked over her shoulder to Nathan. "Nathan, don't waste your breath on him. I've dealt with a handful of guys like him." Her brown eyes were pleading with him to not make a big deal out of this.

"Yeah, Nathan, why don't you just turn around and walk your ass back to the gym? Hell knows that you need to spend much more time in there. You sounded like a dying vacuum choking on dust during our sprints." Damien said smugly.

Nathan brushed it aside and walked to stand face to face with Damien. "I'd wipe that smirk off of your face if I were you." His jaw clenched slightly.

"Or what?"

As Nathan leaned in closer to Damien, he felt himself being pulled back. Lucas put himself in between him and Damien. He pushed Nathan further away. "Don't be stupid. You can get kicked out for fighting. This fight isn't worth it. Trust me, I want nothing more to see you kick his ass to a bloody pulp, but just focus on beating him on the court." Lucas whispered to him forcefully.

Nathan let out a sigh. Lucas was right. There was no point in getting upset over this Damien. He knew from Lucas' stories that this was how Damien West worked. Plus, his father would have a field day if he learned that Nathan was kicked out of High Flyers, especially for fighting.

"Fine, I'll meet you back in the gym." Nathan could see Haley over Lucas' shoulder. She was staring back at him with an apologetic look on her face.

"Okay," Lucas nodded. He looked over to Damien and the rest of the guys. They were no longer upfront towards Nathan. Instead they broke off into small groups and walked back to the gym. Lucas followed soon after.

Nathan took a few steps closer to Haley.

"I told you I didn't need you to be my knight in shining armor." She walked over to a table and set the empty bottles down. Then she turned back to Nathan, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning on the table for support.

"I know. You sure know how to take a guy's manhood and stomp on it. I just didn't like what he was saying about you and I couldn't help but stick up for you."

She smiled. "Thanks," she poked at his chest, "but don't do it again. Like I told you before, I've dealt with guys like him before. They think they can flirt with and that I will fall for it. I'm not here for the immature boys. All I'm here for is to assist my grandfather. So, I think it's best if we just don't talk to each other anymore."

Nathan raised his brow. "You think I'm like Damien West? I haven't flirted with you once and just so you know I happen to have a girlfriend back home."

Haley let out another long sigh. "Well, she's one lucky girl, Scott. You should really get back in there. I have work to do." She turned her back to Nathan to indicate that she was done with him.

"Whatever," he muttered annoyed as he walked away from her. He didn't understand why he was so worked up about Haley. The other day she seemed like a girl that he could get used to talking to. He shouldn't even be thinking about Haley at all. She was becoming a distraction and that wasn't what he needed.

Nathan walked back into the gym to see the guys staring at him. The stern looks on their faces meant trouble.

"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Scott. I'd like to see you in my office after practice. I guess you're relaxed enough for 30 more sprints?"

Was he at a basketball camp or a boot camp?

.

.

After changing, Nathan walked through the locker room. Every pair of eyes were glued to Nathan as he made his walk of shame. This was not how he imagined his time being here. Instead of being at the top, he face planted to rock bottom without a warning sign.

The door to Coach James' office was open. The coach was sitting at his desk looking over papers.

Nathan knocked on the door and tensed up with the old man's eyes slowly moved up to see who was disturbing him.

"Nathan, close the door and have a seat." With his pen, Coach James pointed to one of the two chairs across from his desk.

Nathan did as he was told. The click of the door trapped any words from being able to escape. He could just picture the other guys standing around the door and trying to hear what trouble he was in.

"I was going to yell at you, but I was told that you sticking up for my granddaughter because of one of the others. Do you care to explain to me why Haley was around you boys in the first place?" The coach pushed his papers aside and folded his hands and rested them on his desk.

Nathan swallowed the lump in his throat. "I accidently bumped into her and I helped her up. Then Damien made a comment to her. I would just like to add that your granddaughter is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She told me to back off and I didn't listen." Nathan felt himself becoming nervous.

"She most certainly can and without violence. You are aware of one of the top rules at High Flyers, aren't you?"

"Yes, Sir." Nathan sent him an affirmative nod. "I'll control myself next time."

"There better not be a next time. You're lucky that Haley overheard me and came to tell me that you were late for a good reason. You can go, now."

"Thank you, Sir." Nathan nodded and lifted himself off the chair. He walked over and reached for the doorknob.

"Oh, Scott,"

Nathan dropped his arm and turned back to the coach.

"I don't want you talking to my granddaughter. Do you understand me? You're here for the soul purpose of basketball and nothing else. Understand?"

"Understood, Coach." Nathan quickly exited the office and went back to his locker to grab his things. He couldn't wait to get out of the building.

When he returned to his locker, Lucas was still changing out of his uniform. "So, how bad was it? It must have sucked because we all had to sprint more because of you."

"It wasn't as bad as I thought. I guess Haley told him what happened after we were dismissed." Nathan said as he took his jersey off.

"Hmm. What's with you and Haley anyway? I thought you said you had a girlfriend back home?" Lucas began tying his shoes.

"Nothing's going on between us, if that's what you're thinking, and I do have a girlfriend back in Tree Hill. Her name's Peyton, remember?"

Lucas shrugged. "I know. You two seemed like you were pretty flirty."

"Dude, we were not flirting. I was just helping her after I bumped into her. You would have done the same thing if you caused someone smaller than you to drop what they were carrying. I was just being a nice guy."

"If that's your story."

Nathan wasn't in the mood to discuss this with Lucas. In no way was he flirting with Haley. He had no desire to and she wasn't even interested anyway. They exchanged a few jokes. Nothing more.

"You want to grab some food and eat in the room? I'm sure Damien and his friends are down there now waiting for you to make an appearance." Lucas suggested as he put his lock on his locker.

"Yeah, I'm pretty much running on empty." Nathan finished changing.

They exited the building and the sun was blazing down on them. Nathan hadn't had the chance to shower after his quick visit with the coach. The sweat that dried from earlier was slowly returning on his forehead.

Once inside the housing building, Nathan and Lucas set their bags down and waited in line to gather their meals. Nathan's fingers tapped as he impatience kicked in. He wanted to grab food and then return to his room. He'd go anywhere to avoid from seeing Damien West again.

They grabbed a few sandwiches and walked over to the vending machine to buy some sport drinks. From the corner of his eye, Nathan saw Haley walking over to the trashcan. He gave Lucas his dollar and set his bag down.

"Haley," He called out to her as he walked closer to her.

"Nathan, I already told you not to talk to me." She said as she set her tray on top of the can. "I'm pretty sure my grandfather told you the same thing."

"He did." He put his hands in his pockets. "I just came over to thank you and that I don't need you saving me either." He gave her a knowing look.

Flustered, she shook her head, "I don't know what you're talking about, Scott."

"I think you do. You didn't have to tell the coach. Why did you, by the way?" He found himself curious at her actions. She could easily just let everything that happened go and let Nathan get the punishment he deserved from disobeying break orders and al most getting into a fight.

"Now we're even. I really think you should go before my grandfather or one of his staff members sees you talking to me." Her eyes darted in all directions to make sure that nobody would see Nathan talking to her.

"I really don't care. There's nothing wrong with talking to each other."

"That's what you say now. Soon enough we'll make a routine habit of talking and we may even become friends. You will fall in love with me, which will keep you from having full focus on playing basketball. My grandfather will have a grudge against you from spending so much time with me and…"

Nathan put his hand around her arm to calm her down. The feeling of her soft skin sent tingles through his hand and up his arm. "Slow down, James. It's not that big of a deal. How do you figure that?"

She moved out of his grasp. "It's nothing." Her voice became quiet. "Please, just listen to me this time and leave me be."

He watched her go again. There was more and he could sense it. Getting it out of her wasn't going to work because she was probably going to start ignoring him until he received the message that she didn't want to talk to him. He kept telling himself that he shouldn't care. He shouldn't try and just respect her wishes.

"I should never have walked into the supply closet."

.

.

Haley knocked on her grandfather's office door. She was allowed to enter the locker room only during after hours. She knew to stay away from all the guys that came around every summer. Like the boys, she had strict rules of her own to follow.

She walked into his office. "Are you almost finished up? Grandma is making pot roast tonight. It's your favorite." Haley spoke to him eagerly.

"Almost." The old man looked up to his granddaughter and let out a sigh. "I thought you swore that you wouldn't talk with any of the boys. You seemed to be doing quite well at ignoring them for the past few years."

"I know. I told Nathan that we shouldn't be talking to each other and that he should focus on basketball. He seems pretty respectable."Haley sent him a small smiley that quickly faded.

"They all do at first, but I don't have to remind you of that. Anyway, I just have to go over a few notes from today and then we can go." He put his glasses back on and began reading.

Haley relaxed more in her chair and closed her eyes. She could picture Nathan clearly. It wasn't that she had a problem with him personally. Nathan reminded her of another boy that came to High Flyers a few summers ago. He was a very talented player and he was also friendly towards Haley when they first met. She opened her eyes again when the memories of that summer flashed back inside her head. As much as she tried to forget about it, Nathan Scott seemed to bring back the love and heartbreak that Jason Ryans brought to her.

**AN: **Thanks again for all the reviews for the last chapter. I'm excited to get this story going, which will be in the next couple of chapters. I hope you will stay interested. The next chapter should be up by next Saturday!

Please continue to review!


	4. Chapter 4

**4.**

"_You've barely said anything to me. Is something wrong?"_ Peyton asked him. She had sent him numerous messages asking him to webcam her. It was mostly Nathan's fault because he was just ignoring her. Between practice and hanging out with Lucas and the other guys, Nathan didn't have the energy to deal with Peyton. Now, he wasn't in the mood, but he had promised her that he was going to be a better boyfriend to her.

"Sorry, my mind is just somewhere else." It was thinking about someone else, but he couldn't tell her that. A few days had passed since Haley's attitude did a complete one-eighty. Nathan was trying to piece together the reason behind it. What was the moment that turned everything around? Was it because he didn't walk away when Haley told him to? That couldn't be it.

"_You seem pretty tired. Was practice tiring for you?"_ Her eyes weren't even looking into the camera. Her attention was more focused towards her sketching.

Nathan nodded. He rubbed at his eyes. "Completely and it's just going to be hell in the next few days. I expect it to be that way. Everyone here is serious about basketball. Coach James should be no different with his drills."

"_Then you should have no problem fitting in. You do talk about basketball constantly and now you're around people who will actually listen to you and care." _She furrowed her brow as she scribbled quickly with her pen.

"I guess." He was having a hard time finding any words to speak to her. What was the point if she wasn't paying any interest?

He turned his head to see the light from the hallway enter his room. Lucas had gone downstairs so Nathan could webcam with Peyton. He was pretty eager to leave when Nathan mentioned that he was going to be talking to Peyton. It wasn't going to be like that, even though Nathan wanted it to be that way before he even left Tree Hill.

"Are you still with Peyton?" Lucas asked from the doorway.

Nathan nodded and shifted over so Lucas could see the curly haired girl. "We were just about to finish up. What's up?"

"I met up with Greg and a few others when I was heading to the lobby. We were thinking about getting a group together and go to the pool. You in?"

Nathan nodded. Even though he was on the verge of exhaustion, he never missed out on having a late night out with his friends. There was never a moment in his life where he didn't go and catch his friends at the river court. They could easily get lost in playing a game of basketball. It was a time where Nathan felt like he had the greatest life possible. It was different without bantering back and forth with Skills or making fun of Tim for being a complete airhead. None of the other guys here were like that. Nathan wanted the chance to get to know more of the guys like he did with Lucas.

"All right, I'll let the others know you're coming." He waved to the camera, "Nice meeting you." He closed the door behind him.

Nathan turned back to Peyton. "I should get going. You know that nobody in the male population has patience." He tired to joke with her.

"_I'm guessing that Lucas is your roommate?"_ She asked completely ignoring his attempt at saying goodbye. "_You seem to be getting along without any trouble."_

"Yeah, he is." Nathan wondered if Peyton was feeling the exact same way he was right now. Talking to her and trying to wrap things up just felt awkward to him. He didn't really have much to say to her because their mouths were usually doing things other than talking to each other.

His fingers tapped on the table. "I'll call you later, okay?"

"_I know you're just saying that, Nathan. You really weren't too excited to be talking to your girlfriend as I thought you would be. It's just like you're still here. It's always the guys over me._" She placed her sketch and pen down and stared straight into the camera like she wanted to make Nathan feel guilty.

"You didn't seem too keen on seeing me either. Your stupid drawings had more eye contact from you than I did."

She let out a sigh, _"Just go."_

Nathan rested his face in his hand and shook his head. "I'm not in the mood to do this, Peyton." He dropped his hand to see that she had ended the conversation. The screen before him no longer held her stern face. All that was left was a black screen.

"That's that then," He muttered. With one finger, Nathan closed his laptop. There was no feeling of regret as he got up and left the room.

Lucas, Greg, and his roommate, Thomas, were waiting down the hallway by the elevator. Nathan had no trouble finding them because their voices echoed down the silent hallway.

"No trunks?" Thomas pointed to Nathan's legs that were clothed with his warm up pants.

Nathan shook his head. "My body is just too sore to do anything. I'll probably be enjoying my Saturday by sitting in the hot tub until I'm a vegetable, though." He tried to joke, but the idea sounded too soothing for his aching muscles.

"I might have to join you on that one." Lucas agreed.

"You two seem to spend an awful lot of time together. Are you gay?" Thomas asked with growing eyes.

Both Lucas and Nathan sent him dirty looks. "No!"

Thomas' hands went up to show his surrender. "Sorry, I didn't mean to strike a nerve."

"Just ignore him, guys." Greg told them as the elevator door opened.

"For the record, both Lucas and I have girlfriends. I was just having a web chat with mine. That's why I took so long to get out here." Nathan finally said after the elevator doors closed behind them. Nathan tired to make his night with Peyton seem better than it actually was and he didn't mind trying to get Thomas to shut his mouth.

"You can stop trying to brag. It was a joke, Scott." Thomas told him. "I'd like to add that you don't have to be so uptight while trying to defend yourself either."

"There's no winning with you is there?" Lucas asked. Then he turned to Greg. "You must love sharing a room with him."

Greg just shook his head and Lucas and Nathan joined him in his low chuckle. The short ride down remained silent between all four boys. If this was the way it was going to be between them, then it was going to be a long night. Hell, it was going to be a long three months. How were they supposed to play together and achieve individual greatness if they couldn't even find words to say to each other?

They exited in a single file line to the empty hallway. Coach James never mentioned anything about a curfew for the boys. The only thing that any of them knew was that they weren't allowed to leave the campus, even on the weekends. That rule was enforced because High Flyers didn't want to be responsible if anything were to happen to the players off the campus. The only way around it was if friends our family came on visiting days, which Nathan didn't make aware to his parents or Peyton. His father would probably easily find out about it, but Peyton wouldn't because she just didn't care.

When they entered the room with the pool, Thomas quickly discarded his shirt and jumped into the water. Nathan and Lucas looked at each other like he was crazy. Apparently, Thomas didn't suffer from the aftereffects of practices like they did or he did them halfheartedly. The three remaining boys took over a plastic table with matching while chairs. Thomas swam over the edge near them and rested his arms on the concrete.

"Let me guess, you're all acting like fragile little girls because of a few days of practice?" Thomas asked them.

"I'd hate to break it to you, Tom, but Coach James is expecting all work and no play from all of us." Greg told him roommate.

"Yeah, it's going to be one tough summer. I can't believe I gave up my break for this. I could be spending my nights out partying and with Brooke. Instead, I was all cocky about being chosen into this and nothing was going to change my mind about going." Lucas told them with a sigh. He could imagine that his summer with his girlfriend would leave him restless, too, but in a much more satisfying way.

"Ah, yes, the party life. There's no way in hell Coach would ever let us do that with the alcohol and all." Thomas agreed before dunking his head under the water and wiping his face when he came back up.

Greg nodded. "Another great thing about those are all the sexy slutty girls waiting for their chance to get with guys like us."

"They must spend hours figuring out how to look like easy access." Thomas gave a look to Nathan and Lucas. "Then again, you boys are probably so whipped that you have no idea what I'm talking about."

"I have no desire to ever cheat on Brooke. She has this thing called natural beauty, which I think is pretty much the sexiest thing ever and she could probably kick my ass if I ever did." Lucas grumbled.

Nathan cleared his throat. The truth was that he had made out with many other girls while he was dating Peyton. He even did it right in front of her once at a party. She was pissed at him, but for some reason they reconciled.

"You're silence says it all, you know?" Lucas told him.

All he did was nod and hoped that the subject was due to change.

"It's whatever. Nathan, you're almost eighteen. There's no reason for you to by tied down to some girl." Thomas chimed in. "Can we not talk about girls anymore? I'm getting all bothered and there's nothing here but a bunch of guys. Well, except for the coach's granddaughter." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Greg made a motioned to silence his obnoxious roommate. "I'd step off, if I were you. You don't want Nathan to bash your face in." He dropped his hand, "What was with that anyway? You and Damien?"

There was that question again. Nathan thought that the guys had decided to drop it, since Damien had. The only time it was ever mentioned was by Lucas on the day that it happened. All the boys decided that it was just nonsense and basketball was their main priority over immature drama.

Haley seemed to have forgotten about it, too. During practice, Nathan had looked for her and she wasn't in her place next to the coach. At first, he thought that she was just busy with whatever her daily tasks were. Recently, he realized that she was sticking to her part of avoiding him.

"Damien just seems to like getting on my nerves." Nathan cocked his head to motion over to Lucas. "Lucas knows all about West. Damien tried to hit on Brooke during one of their games and could have started a brawl."

Lucas leaned back in the chair hoping that it wouldn't crack under the weight he put down on it. "He's a real…punk."

"Bastard is more like." Nathan said rudely.

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Summer was one of Haley's favorite seasons. The main reason was that she got to spend her summers with her grandparents. They didn't live close enough for her to be able to drop by whenever she wanted to. It was more of her parents' decision at first to send Haley there to help out her grandfather. When her father told her that her grandfather's age was starting to affect him, Haley didn't want to miss out on having time to spend with hr grandparents. Her parents were worried about her grandmother, too, because they didn't wanted the older woman to be alone if anything were to happen to her husband. Neither of the elderly pair wanted their family to worry about them, so Haley just told them that she was there for something to do during her summers off.

"Haley, your mother's on the phone for you!" Lillian James called up the staircase to her granddaughter.

Haley set the book she was reading on her bed and got up to retrieve the phone. After taking it from her grandmother's hands, she bounded back up to her room.

"Hey mom, what's going on?" Haley asked as her head hit her pillow.

"_I was just calling to check in on things over there. You still helping out grandpa?" _Her mother always spoke with a gentle tone and it made Haley feel like she could tell her mother everything. Well, almost everything.

"Of course I am and everything's fine."

"_Good. Your father and I are both proud of you for continuing to travel up there and be around if they need you. We know you wanted to spend time with your friends this summer." _

She did want the chance to see her friends before her senior year started. With Haley's hectic academic scheduling she was sure that she would have no time between subjects to really see her friends. Studying and homework had taken over her young life. Haley wanted to get an academic scholarship so her parents wouldn't have pay as much money for her to go.

"They understand my circumstances for deciding to leave."

"_I know, Haley Bop. I'm going to pass you over to your father now. Have a good weekend and I'll call you again soon." _

She said goodbye to her mother and could hear her mother shouting to her father that she was on the phone. She smiled upon hearing them try and mutter to each other.

"_How's my little girl doing?"_

Haley let out a giggle. "Dad, I'm not a child and I'm fine."

"_Oh, I know. I just like to think that you still are. You are all your mother and I have left to send off into the world." _Her father was always the one who would joke around and pretend to be overdramatic. There was also the time where her father acted just like any other father._" So, are there any boys bothering you, causing trouble?"_

Haley shook her head. "No, Daddy. They pretty much ignore me and pay attention to what grandpa tells them to do." She didn't want to mention Damien to her father for numerous reasons. The main one was that she didn't want her father getting upset about it because there wasn't anything that he could do about it. Another reason why was because Haley thought she was able to handle herself after what had happened to her in the past. The topic of Nathan Scott was also out of the conversation because she was trying to handle him herself as well.

"_I'm glad to hear it, Pumpkin. Send our love to Grandma and Grandpa and I'll talk to your grandfather the next time your mother calls. I'd like to talk ball with him."_

"Okay, Daddy, I will." Haley pressed the end call button on the phone and set it down next to her side.

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Coach James called the boys to circle around him. The trial period was officially over as the week was. It was time for him and his fellow staff to split the boys up based on what they had shown over the past week.

"You've survived your first week of practice. The next step is to split you off into two teams. You will not always have to stick with the people on your team because there is still the individual gain aspect to this program. At the end of the summer we hold a game on campus. Your friends, family, whoever buys tickets, and maybe even college scouts will come to the game. The only reason why we are teaming you up so early is so that you get comfortable with the diversity within our group."

Nathan nudged Lucas. "This could go several ways. The majority of the scenarios are bad considering a certain prick of ours. We could both be stuck with Damien together or separately have to deal with him. We could also luck out and be teamed up together and double-team him. I don't think it's going to work in our favor, though." Nathan explained to him in a hushed tone.

"I figured as much." Lucas mumbled back to him.

"All right, in black jerseys we have Thomas, Greg, Tony, Nathan, and Alex. Come grab your new uniforms." The coach said as his eyes never left his clipboard.

Nathan patted Lucas sympathetically on the shoulder. Inside he was thrilled that he wouldn't have to have Damien to lean on during the game. He could focus on beating him and proving to him that he was the better player.

"That means in red we'll have Lucas, Max, Marcus, Damien, and Brad."

The boys threw on their new colors and grouped up in their respected teams to get acquainted.

"Now, the end of next week we will be having a practice game. Since it's the end of the week and all I have been doing is drilling you until you're about to puke your guts out, we can start with taking shots and see who will be split into the different positions." He stopped talking and motioned to his assistant to pass out a few basketballs to the eager players.

As the ball made contact with Nathan's fingertips, he couldn't wait to start. The sound of the whistle was almost a reflex to him. The impulse to shine on the court raced through him.

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The rest of the boys exited the locker room when practice had ended for the day. Nathan had other plans. While the others were changing, Nathan was too busy beating himself up about how he had performed. He was able to make every shot like he always did. Something just seemed off and nobody seemed to notice it but him. It was something his father always did whenever he watched Nathan play. That feeling of being put down never escaped him.

Nathan walked back into the gym and noticed that the rack of basketballs were still out. Thankfully, there was nobody in the gym and hopefully the building because he didn't even know if he was allowed to be there anymore. He didn't feel right leaving that gym until he thought his performance was perfect.

He grabbed one of the balls from the rack and for the first time he tensed up at the echoing sound of the dribbling ball. It could easily be heard from outside the doors and he didn't want to be caught, even for doing something he loved. With each bounce, Nathan felt himself relax. As he ran down the court, he felt himself ease back into being able to play ball. He took his first shot without any spectators and the ball had no trouble sailing through the next. That was the way it was always supposed to be: flawless.

Nathan Scott was like a dancer feeling the beat of the music. He could isolate himself in the tune a move with such grace. There was vulnerability inside of him that he could portray and he didn't want anybody to ever see that from him. There was one pair of dancing eyes that caught him in his purest form. They couldn't force themselves to look away because the sight of him was like witnessing a miracle and no one would believe it if the story was ever retold.

His arms seemed to stretch like a ballerinas legs as he made his next shot. The beauty of the form was a remarkable sight.

"Nice shot." The voice was small, but in the empty gym it seemed greater.

Nathan stopped dead in his spot. He didn't run to retrieve the ball and it rolled away silently. "I thought we were doing the whole staying away from each other thing?" His heartbeat was still fast and strong from running. There was no response. "How long have you been watching me?"

"Not long, I promise." Her voice stumbled.

Nathan finally turned to see Haley standing by the large doors. Her hair was down again and covering her shoulders. He preferred it that way. "You've been avoiding me."

She nodded. "I know. I'm standing by my words and I appreciate that you've been doing the same. To be honest with you, I didn't know that anybody was in here."

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't help myself." He walked over to the bleachers and sat down to rest and to let Haley do what she needed to without having to be a bother to her.

Haley walked over and sat down a row below him. "Don't be. You're a really talented basketball player, Nathan."

He knew he was, but today he doubted it because of the high amount of pressure he started feeling during practice. "I've been playing ever since I was a kid. I loved having something that I was better at than some people. I felt a sense of pride, which I didn't even know about when I was that age. Basketball was something I could always turn to, which seems weird, but it's therapeutic." He rolled his eyes at his poor explanation of what it really meant to him. He had a hard time putting it into words.

All Haley could do was nod at his words. She understood what he was trying to say completely. She was comfortable having him being able to talk to her like that. As his words rolled off his tongue all she could think about was Jason. Jason had similar feelings towards the sport like Nathan, but he seemed more certain about it that Nathan did. Haley didn't know why because watching Nathan play was more convincing than words could ever be.

The distance from Haley didn't go unnoticed by Nathan. She seemed lost in thought, so Nathan cleared his throat in attempt to bring her back. "Listen, I know that you and the coach don't want me to talk to you. It's just another thing that I can't seem to help. It's just; I don't understand why it's such a big deal. You know? It's like what time period are we living in that we are forbidden to talk to each other?"

It made perfect sense. Haley knew that it seemed quite ridiculous, but it wasn't meant to forbid him. Her reasons were for protection and they weren't just for her own being. Both could be protected from this, protected from each other, and protection for their hearts, even if the two hearts hadn't begun to develop a feeling strong than a simple heartbeat yet.

"I see nothing wrong with us being friends. If you're worried about something more happening between us I can promise you that it won't. I already mentioned to you that I have a girlfriend back home." _Who i"m barely paying attention to. _

Sadly, Haley didn't believe that. She had been fooled by that little speech once already.

"Haley?"

She sighed. "You're not going to let his go, are you?" She raised her brow at him.

"Unless you have a logical explanation for me, then no." There was a reason why Haley was being so difficult with him. He knew, from being with Peyton, that girls seemed to use defense mechanism in order to keep their stories hidden.

He watched as she ran her hands through her hair. "Grandpa doesn't have to know." He tried to joke, but even he knew that it was far from funny.

Haley could help but chuckle at his comment. Nathan sure knew how to make her laugh more than she done in the past few summers. The only way that happened was because she let Nathan bring out that feeling inside of her.

She stood up and shook her head. "No," she paused. Everything screaming inside of her was telling her to walk away from him at that moment. What was the point in becoming friends with somebody who was just going to end up leaving? Haley wasn't even supposed to be involving herself with any of the players, yet here she was. What made Nathan Scott any different? Avoiding him was going to prove to be just plain difficult because they were both going to be here everyday for three months."He doesn't."

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**AN: **I hope you liked this new chapter. I noticed a decline in reviews and I hope that the story is still interesting to you guys. Thank you to the people who review, favorite and subscribe to this story.

I wish you all happy holidays and I also posted a Christmas one-shot if you haven't checked it out yet. It's titled _His Favorite Christmas Story. _

Until next time, please review!


	5. Chapter 5

**5.**

Hot water trickled down his exposed skin. The thin paths of water soothed every muscle they traveled over until they evaporated, leaving the skin cooled. Gradually, his body was becoming tolerant of all the work that he had been doing this last week. Nathan and Lucas had started a workout schedule and they designed it just so they could push themselves further and further. They spent less time sitting around in their room and more time in the weight room or going out for runs that lasted miles. It was what the boys needed to do to stay on top of their physical activity and to show the coach and his staff that they took this program seriously.

His warm hand reached to turn of the water that had massaged his muscles with its pressure. Nathan stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel securely around his waist. After drying off his body and throwing on clean clothes, He dried his hair and ran gel through it to keep his messy spikes from becoming flat. Before walking out of the bathroom, Nathan checked himself out in the fogged mirror. He usually didn't make an ordeal about getting ready while he was here because he didn't need to make an impression with his looks for any of the guys.

Nathan turned to walk over to his bed when he noticed that Lucas and Greg were in the room. They were talking, but stopped when Nathan sat on his bed to put on his socks and sneakers. When he walked out of the bathroom Nathan didn't expect anybody to be in his room. He was relieved that he didn't walk out in his towel.

"I thought you were going to be down in the lobby?" Nathan asked him while he tied his second shoe.

Lucas nodded. "I was. Then I met up with Greg. We're going to hang out later with Tony and a few other guys."

"Yeah, Tony was able to sneak his gaming system in and the guys are going to go over there. You in, Scott?" Greg asked him.

Nathan did want to join them. He remembered how he would always play video games with Tim and Skills. Tim was easier for him to play because he wasn't good at being able to talk Nathan down to distract him from playing. His comments only made Nathan roll his eyes. Skills, on the other hand, was much more intimidating, which offered Nathan an actual opponent. The two would fire trash talk to each other like it was the only language they knew.

"I wish I could, but I'm going to have to decline. I was going to hit the gym."

Lucas let out a laugh. "Nate, we were just there this morning. Why would shower and then go back to the gym just to sweat again?" Lucas wanted to tell Nathan that it was a bad idea to go to the gym more than once in one day, especially with the amount of activities they were already doing, because he didn't want Nathan to overwork himself. It was easier for him to just make a joke out of it because he didn't want to upset Nathan.

Nathan felt like Lucas knew that he was lying to him and he felt the need to think of a logical lie that Lucas had to believe. This wasn't the first time that he told Lucas that he had other plans. Usually, Lucas tagged along with him and Nathan had no problem with it.

"My father thinks that it's best for me that I expand my time between the gym and basketball. He doesn't believe in free time to loaf around."

Lucas sent Greg a look. Then he stood up to walk over to Nathan and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's fine. I'll just see you when I come back." His hand fell from his shoulder.

"Thanks for understanding, man. We'll all go to Tony's some other time." Nathan said as he left he room.

Hearing the door close behind him made Nathan forget all about his guilt. It wasn't a large amount to begin with, but it still built up inside of him every time he found himself having to make up excuses.

As a new routine, Nathan took the elevator down to the lobby and then walked over to the athletics building. He always made sure that nobody noticed him going into the gym. The staff worked until the afternoon hours when the guys didn't have to be in the gym with the coach. It didn't take long for Nathan to figure out what their schedules were because he made sure to ask them. He had pretended that he was really interested in going to the gym every day or he wanted to know more about Clay's profession. Nathan would say or do anything to impress the scout on location. He made his way past the bleachers and saw the cracked ajar supply closet door. A smile spread across his face while he slipped inside.

This was where they decided to meet up whenever they wanted to spend some time together. It was quite difficult during the weekdays because Nathan was busy with basketball and his training, plus everyone was always around. She gave her best effort to ignore all of the boys, including Nathan, to prove to her grandfather that she wasn't going against his wishes. The only reason she ever muttered a word to them was when she was told to help them or if she needed to remind them of her grandfather's rules. The boys all had their comments about her and she brushed them off because in a few months she would never have to see them again. Nathan wanted nothing more than to shut them up, but it would ruin their secret friendship.

Their secret friendship started off awkwardly, which Nathan didn't understand why because he found it easy to be around Haley. She didn't make sarcastic comments like Peyton or any of his other friends did. If anything, hers were more of jokes. Whenever they embraced in a serious conversation, Nathan could tell that Haley would start withdrawing herself from it. As much as he wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, he knew that it was too big of a story to know just yet. There was a lack of trust more from her end. Nathan had no problem talking about his ongoing problems with his father because she actually took the time to listen to him and she didn't care that he talked about him. Haley would rather have him talk rather than Nathan holding it back. Every person has a breaking point and Haley didn't mind if she was the only person that he could erupt into emotions in front of.

So far all they have done was hang out in the supply closet. They couldn't go off the campus because of the consequences of getting caught together, especially if that person was Coach James.

"You're late." Haley told him. She was seated on an exercise ball.

"I know and I'm sorry. Lucas and the other guys," he paused because he knew if he told Haley about what Tony and the guys were up to tonight that she could easily tell the coach. Even though he did trust her, he knew that her loyalty with her grandfather towered over her loyalty to him. "Wanted me to do something with them. I obviously told them I didn't want to and I think that Lucas is starting to get skeptical. I've been telling them I'm always busy doing other things. Sooner or later he could start connecting the dots."

Haley nodded. "I'm sorry that I'm making you lie. I just don't want the guys to know because I'm supposed to be here strictly to work. I promised my parents and my grandparents that I wouldn't get involved with any boys while I stay here."

"It's fine, Haley. I should be the one who's sorry. I think you've got it worse because you're lying to your family."

She sent him a smile. Shortly after meeting Nathan, Haley could see that there was more to him than his jock exterior. He had a heart towards other people. It reminded her of Jason and that's why she was so afraid of getting close to him. She thought that she was over Jason, but Nathan brought back her feelings. Pushing them aside was the right thing for her to do because she didn't want to Nathan to know about her past. Nathan probably wouldn't even care if Haley had a past because he did have a girlfriend back at home, where he belonged.

"It's your day off too, right? What do your grandparents think you're doing?" Nathan asked her.

"I sort of told them that I was going to see a movie. It's partly true. I just left out the part about going with you." Her chuckle stayed in her throat.

Nathan smirked at her. The last time they were together they decided that they needed to be somewhere else besides the supply closet. Haley knew the camp rules just as much as he did. The master plan was that Nathan was going to sign out to go off campus because his friend was coming to visit him. A movie was perfect because nobody from High Flyers would recognize them together and the theater was pitch dark.

"I really hope that you don't get caught and get in trouble for this, Nathan. I don't understand why you are risking a great future as a basketball player just to spend time with me." Haley told him. She hated to see such a talent in trouble of being thrown away just because of her.

This wasn't the first time that Haley had expressed her concern towards his basketball career. He knew that it was a terrible idea to get in trouble here because people in the business would reflect on that. "Believe it or not, Haley, you're one of the few people here that I find interesting. Sure, I have a commonality with all the guys, but with you I can actually talk about, well, not guy stuff." He thought he had his thoughts focused, but he couldn't find the appropriate way to end it.

She was touched by his words. "Why don't you just talk to your girlfriend instead of me? I mean, you can email, call, or write her and tell her whatever you want to." Haley couldn't help but ask him that question. Nathan was in a relationship and that meant something to her.

Nathan scratched the back of his head. "Peyton's not the sentimental type. I do try to talk about me father with her, but I get so upset that he thinks I just complain about him all the time. It's annoys her. We argue and make up a few seconds later. It's a bi-polar relationship."

Haley only nodded to show him that she understood him. Peyton didn't sound like she was the right girl for Nathan. He needed someone who was more supportive of him. He needed a large amount of comfort in his life.

Nathan cleared his throat because he felt weird talking about Peyton with Haley. "So, we should get going to this movie, right?"

With a force smile, she stood up. "Right." She wanted to talk to Nathan more. It wasn't going to be possible in the dark theater, where talking was prohibited. "You should probably leave first and pretend that you were just leaving the weight room. I'll meet you outside in a few." She told him softly.

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After the movie, Nathan and Haley shared laughs and comments while they discussed how awful the movie was. It felt like two hours wasted, but it beat being stuck at the campus. By the time the movie ended, the sun was already departing below the horizon. The car ride home was quick because the movie theater was close to the campus. It didn't really give them enough time to have any lasting conversation.

She parked into the parking lot of the campus. "I had a good time, even though the movie had a terrible storyline."

"Yeah,"

They were both silent until Nathan cleared the air and asked her, "When do you think we'll be able to see each other again?"

Her fingers tapped against her steering wheel. "I think that next weekend should go how it normally would for you. You should be with the other guys to leave them off your back, you know?"

Haley reached into her pocket and pulled out a small folded piece of paper. She passed it over to him. "Make sure that Lucas doesn't see that. It's nothing important, just my email address if you ever feel like talking."

Nathan took it and placed it in his wallet. "I'll try and get in touch with you during the week if Coach doesn't work me until I can't function."

"I'm sure he'll do just that." She joked with a nervous chuckle.

Without really thinking about it, Nathan quickly hugged her before getting out of the car. It wasn't long enough for him to read into it, but it felt right.

Haley watched him leave from her rearview mirror. She slouched down against her leather seat because she couldn't believe what she was letting happen between her and Nathan. How could she go from strictly telling him to stay away from her to sneaking away with him to a movie?

With Jason, it wasn't the same. They didn't really become friends before they started a relationship of any kind. He felt that they didn't have too much time to become friends and it didn't matter to him because he felt like there was something between them. It was easier that she didn't have to hide it either. Her grandfather only told her to be careful because young athletes could be heartbreakers, but he had seen the way Jason acted during practices and he was all right with the idea. Haley wished that he wasn't because his warning was correct.

After regaining her composure, she made the drive to her grandparents' house. The house wasn't far from the campus property. She always drove her grandfather to the campus, unless she wasn't scheduled for working. If that was the case, it was a simple solution. Clay or another employee would pick him up on their way.

Her car was parked in the driveway. From sitting in her car, she could see the lights on in the kitchen. Her grandmother was preparing their late Sunday dinner.

She walked inside and her senses become more alert with the scents coming from the kitchen.

"Haley?" Her grandmother poked her head out of the kitchen. "You're just in time for dinner. I hope that you didn't eat too much popcorn and candy to spoil your appetite."

Haley went into the kitchen. Her grandfather was already sitting at the set table. Usually, Haley was the one to put out the plates and utensils. When she was younger she was always so excited about being able to help her grandmother in the kitchen. Haley's grandmother gave her little jobs, which Haley took seriously because it made her feel important.

She pulled out her chair and sat down. "I'd much rather eat your cooking than binge out on overly priced movie snacks."

"How was the movie anyway?" The coach asked her while his wife scooped corn onto his plate.

"The previews made it seem so much better. Then again that's how it always is. Every movie is rated as number one, even when it's a complete flop." She was glad that she was still able to tell him the truth, but she knew that he wouldn't like the idea of having Nathan joining her.

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Nathan's plan was to go straight to his room when he came inside from being with Haley. He could hear the mixed chatter from down the hall and he couldn't help but want to go over there and have some fun with the guys.

As he walked further down the hall, he passed Damien on the way.

"Are you heading to Battle's room?" He asked him.

Nathan nodded. Where else would he go? Damien knew that was were the majority of the group was.

"You're kind of late for all of the good stuff, but I bet you had a much better time at the gym or whoever you got into the car with."

Nathan tensed up. He prayed that Damien did not see that Haley was the owner and driver of the car that he stepped into. He would rather have the coach see them and yell at him right away than having Damien see them together and blackmail him with it.

"It's really none of your business, West. If you must know, my father drove for a visit and took me out for pizza."

Damien shrugged. "If that's your story. I could care less about your life. I didn't need you to tell me about your daddy bonding experience." He walked away chuckling. When he got further away he started whistling.

Nathan was having too good of a day to get involved with Damien. He decided to continue with his great time and hang out with the guys.

Once he arrived at Tony's door, he knocked on the door loudly because he be they couldn't hear him over all of the noise. He knew they heard him when the room turned to complete silence.

The door opened to reveal Thomas standing on the other side. He looks behind him and shouts. "It's okay. It's only Nate." He turns back to Nathan. "You do know you're a bit late, don't you?"

"So I've been told."

"Thomas opened the door fully. "You can still join us though. Scott." He moved away from the door to let Nathan follow him inside. "We were afraid that you were going to be one of the workers or Damien. He wanted in on our waging or he would rat us out to Bobby Duncan. Our chicken asses let him play. He got bored and dropped his spot. Good thing he didn't win all the money."

Money? "What's going on in here exactly?" Nathan asked.

"You could say that we're doing some harmless gambling. There's a tournament going on. I hate to break it to you, but we can't let you play because we're on the final bracket. You'll have to wait until next time."

"That's fine by me."

"You're a good sport, Scott. The buy-in is still five bucks, so fork it over." Thomas showed Nathan his palm.

"I should have guessed from you that there was going to be a catch." Nathan told him as he dug his wallet from his pocket.

His wallet opened and the paper from Haley sailed to the floor. Nathan quickly picked it up before Thomas had the chance to see it. He handed over his money and walked through to the rest of the room.

The boys were surrounded in front of the TV and shouting. Nathan couldn't see who was even playing. He saw Lucas sitting on one of the beds. He greeted him.

"How long were you at the gym? If you say that it was the entire time, then you can cut the crap because there is no way in your right mind that you spent three hours lifting weights."

"I came back and you were gone. I took a nap and had trouble falling asleep because of all this commotion going on so I thought that I would check it out." The lies were so easy to tell. Nathan tried looking over to the TV. "How did you do in the pool?

"I actually made it to the semi-finals. Then Tony," Lucas pointed in the small crowd, "beat me. Tony and Greg are the top two people in the brackets. Obviously, they are both really good competitors."

Nathan crossed him arms over his chest. "I'm sure I'll get them the next time."

Lucas shook his head. "I wouldn't be too confident about that. I've been playing this game for years and I thought I was going to be the best at it but Tony and Greg seem to know it better than I do. I wish you all the luck." He gave Nathan a strong handshake.

"Thanks." He turned around to watch them battle out the game.

.

.

Lucas and Nathan returned to their room after spending a few hours with the guys. The game between Greg and tony became quite intense. Each of them was worthy of winning the tournament, but after going back and forth between baskets Tony had won. Greg couldn't wait to have a rematch. Nathan couldn't wait until he was able to join them. He wouldn't mind playing either of them and wiping their smug smiles off their faces.

"I'm going to check to see if I have any messages. If you want you can use it to check to see if Brooke, your mom, or whoever else sent you anything when I'm done." Nathan offered when he placed the keycard into the door slot.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm going to take a quick shower. I'm beat." Lucas patted him of the shoulder and walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Nathan opened his laptop and typed in his password. After opening his account, he saw that he got one message from Peyton. They were supposed to talk on the phone a few days ago, but Nathan forgot because he and Haley were planning their movie jailbreak. He clicked over the bolded alert and prepared himself for her words.

_I haven't heard from you in days and I thought I'd see if you were still alive. Summer has been really boring because nobody's been around. That's Tree Hill for you. I really hope you were serious about working on our relationship. Right now, it feels like you could care less about it. My guess is that you are too busy with basketball to think about anything else._

_Peyton_

Her words weren't as bad as he thought they would be. Peyton really could chew his head off if she wanted to. He thought she could easily put her angry thoughts into words.

Nathan opened up a new message window and began to type.

_I may be busy with basketball because it's what I love doing. You seem to understand that pretty well. When I do get the chance to sit back and have time to catch my breath, I'm glad that I actually get to think about other things. I promise that I won't do anything purposely to jeopardize what we have. Things have been great between us so far and I'm glad that we decided to give this a chance._

_You probably aren't awake right now, but I wanted to let you know all that. This summer I knew I was going to have the best time at High Flyers and I was right. I don't normally, actually, I don't ever do this, but I wanted to just send you this to tell you thanks. Haley, I really like spending time with you._

_Nathan_

Those words weren't any easier for him to type than they were to think about. Reading it over, he thought he sounded corny. It wasn't Nathan Scott being short and it wasn't Nathan Scott who clicked the send button.

_._

_._

**Thanks for all the reviews from last chapter. I hope everyone had a happy new year. If I made it difficult to notice, there was a short time jump since the last chapter. The build up may be boring, but it will get more interesting. **

**I went ahead of myself and posted the first chapter of my new story. Feel free to check out **_**Steal Your Heart **_**if you haven't yet! /s/7691923/1/Steal_Your_Heart **

**Please review! **


	6. Chapter 6

**6.**

Breakfast that morning went on as the routine that it was. Lillian James still got up around 4 AM to prepare and cook a hot meal for her husband of over 50 years and her youngest granddaughter. The grunts of the coach escaped from his lips as he sipped his coffee out of his twenty-year-old mug that he got as an anniversary gift. His playbook rested on the table to be looked over. Utensils clattered against plates that held stacks of French toast and the accompanied bacon on the side.

Lillian looked over and smiled when Haley descended from the stairs. The elderly woman was so thankful that she was blessed with a granddaughter like Haley. She didn't know how else she could continue going on each day without Haley being there to help out. It saddened her that none of their other grandchildren came to visit during the summer. Even her children didn't come to see them. Haley made the drive all by herself.

While Haley fixed herself a quick plate, Lillian looked over to her husband. She didn't know how he had the energy to still coach groups of young boys every year. Each summer, she wondered if her husband would ever bring up that he was retiring. It would make her feel happier if the old man would relax more. Their son and his wife would also agree. Unfortunately, she married a stubborn man who wasn't going to quit until life was destined to stop him.

"What's the game plan for today, Coach?" Haley asked as she set her plate down on the table. The sound of the plate landing on the wooden surface brought the worried woman out of her thoughts.

Her grandfather cleared his throat and wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Let's see. It's Friday so the boys have their practice game today. I sure hope that they haven't been slacking off." He rubbed his temple with his hand.

"If they care enough, then I wouldn't be worried. I thought you liked the group this year." Haley commented as she cut her pancake and placed the piece in her mouth.

"He says that every year." Lillian piped in.

Haley nodded as she continued eating. She couldn't help but smile at what her grandma had said because the coach ignored the comment, knowing that it was true. Those two always made any breakfast or dinner entertaining.

"Breakfast was delicious, as always. I'm going to get my car started. I'll be leaving in twenty minutes." She gave her grandfather a knowing look before collecting her dirty dishes and walking them over to the sink.

Lillian cleared her throat by drinking from her glass of juice. "Before you two run off to the campus, you," she pointed to her husband firmly, "need to remember to take your morning medications."

He dropped his fork and threw his napkin down on his plate. His wife told him about taking his medications every chance she could. It was simple. He just kept forgetting to take them. A few times here and there didn't make a huge difference to him, but his wife wanted to make sure that he was on top of things.

"Speaking of that, " he let out a sigh, "I do not need you to tell Haley that she isn't allowed to leave until I take my pills, Lillian. Did you know that I was in orientation with all of the boys that morning? They'll probably think I'm too sick and too old to coach them successfully." He shook his head in frustration.

"Now, I doubt any of them think of you that way. I am surprised to see you acting this way about it, though. Just continue to be the tough guy that you are." She suggested. "Heck, I doubt they were even paying attention. You know how boys that age are."

"Still. I would appreciate it if that didn't happen again." He stood up from the table and walked over to her to place a kiss on her cheek. His baseball cap was placed firmly on his head and the playbook was tucked under his arm. "I'm going to meet Haley. We'll see you for dinner."

Before leaving, the older man walked over to the counter, where his morning medicines were already there waiting for him to take them. He picked up the different colored pills and stuffed them in his pocket.

The coach exited the kitchen and walked out the front door. Each morning he made sure to take a deep breath of air to remind himself that his life was all that he wanted it to be. He had a loving wife and family, and he still was lucky enough to have his career. Retirement seemed dreadful to him even more so because each year it came closer to being true.

Haley smiled to greet him when he got into the car beside her. The two never talked in the car because she knew that her grandfather was so focused on what needed to happen with the guys each day. She hated when the boys disappointed him. In her eyes, her grandfather was an amazing mentor and nobody should take that for granted. It didn't matter to her how skillful they were at playing the game. Haley preferred the people who could realize that her grandfather was teaching them something that they could remember forever.

She wished they would talk more because that meant he could distract her from her own thoughts. The topic this morning happened to be the one and only Nathan Scott. The two have been exchanging emails quite often. Ever since she received the first one from him, the night she gave him any contact information, she was intrigued that he could express himself to her so easily. Haley had many years of experience with high school boys and none of them really cared too much about anything other than basketball. She was meant to be nothing to them, anyway. Maybe if she let more in, then she would find out that the mere sport wasn't what they always defined themselves with.

Her responses were carefully thought out. There were sentences that she typed on pure impulse, but she always deleted them or tried to reword them. Haley didn't want to put herself in another situation like the one with Jason. She guessed that Nathan was feeling comfortable in telling Haley whatever he wanted. She wondered about his girlfriend back home. Did she know about her? What kinds of things did she and Nathan talk about compared to what they shared?

No matter how hard she tried, her thoughts would go from positive to negative. She wanted them to all be positive, but her brain wouldn't let her have that.

Pulling into her usual parking spot, Haley relaxed. She couldn't wait for the coach to put her to work because then she could have her one tracked mind. She was going to see Nathan everyday and she couldn't make it apparent to anyone that they were friends. It was hard standing next to the coach and his assistants because she could easily be caught focusing on one player in particular.

The walk to the gym remained silent. Practice games were very important for the coach because it set a tone for how well these boys were going to be getting along. Their performances would be molded differently after today and they were going to have to start acting more serious because the remaining time was going to fly by. The coach wanted to make sure he did everything he possibly could to prepare them. There was a ton of pressure on his shoulders because he promised them so much.

"Haley, could you go grab the rack of balls from the supply closet? I'll be in my office." The coach asked her.

"No problem," Haley nodded.

As she began making the short trip to the supply closet a small smile formed on her face. Haley remembered when Nathan first walked in to help her. It turned out that she was quite thankful that somebody was around, even though she didn't like when people overheard her when she struggled. Instantly, the two seemed to be able to talk about themselves without knowing the other's name. They were comfortable with each other until certain people started to notice. It scared her and that wasn't fair to Nathan. Now, every time she walked to the supply closet it was usually to meet up with Nathan there. Today, Haley knew that she wouldn't be making that trip because Nathan had plans to hang out with the guys.

That what he should be doing and Haley shouldn't feel disappointed about not getting to see him. Her grandmother was already noticing that Haley had plans on the weekends, which were a rarity. Hopefully, her grandmother wouldn't make the connection with Jason. Haley didn't think she could bear having to talk about how that summer affected her.

With a sigh and shake of her head, Haley unlocked the dark closet knowing that it wouldn't be left open for Nathan to sneak inside.

* * *

><p>"All right boys, you all know what's going to be happening today. Myself, as well as the other staff members, have seen some promising progress in this group. So, I expect that this practice game will be played with that drive that each of you felt when you stepped out on the court for your regular season games. The only difference is that we won't be playing a full timed game. The first team to twenty-five will be declared victorious." He swallowed. "Now, separate into you respected teams."<p>

Nathan looked to Lucas, who rolled his eyes. He sent his roommate a smug smile. Even though Nathan couldn't wait to wipe the floor with Damien, he knew that Lucas hated the fact that he was teamed with Damien. Lucas wanted to be in Nathan's spot because he could get away with treating Damien like the scum he thought he was. This all had to be taken seriously and there was no way Lucas was going to be faking his own teammate out.

Nathan greeted Greg and Thomas by bumping his fist with theirs. So far, Nathan had a lot of luck at High Flyers and his father's meddling had nothing to do with it for once.

"Nate, how do you think it's going to feel like?" Thomas asked him, while clapping his hands and rubbing them together.

Nathan kinked his brow. "What the hell are you even talking about, man?"

"When you beat Damien twice! You still are coming to Tony's, right?"

Before answering, his blue eyes searched for the doe brown ones. The owner of those eyes stood next to the coach with her arms folded over her chest. She caught his gaze and no smile formed on her face. Nathan brought his attention back to his teammates.

"Yeah, I'm going to be there. You made me do an early buy in this time."

"You better be talking plays over there!" Coach's voice boomed through the gym.

"Don't get us in trouble, Scott." Thomas hit him in the chest and chuckled. He motioned for the other two remaining guys to circle up.

Nathan just shook his head. There were times where he just couldn't deal with Thomas. The only reasons that he could was because he remind Nathan so much of his friend, Tim.

The coach blew his whistle as Clay walked towards the middle of the court. He held the single basketball that would be used for the day. Greg and Marcus stood across from each other and prepared themselves for the jump ball, that Clay would toss up in the air. The entire gym was silent and all pairs of eyes were focused on the mere basketball. With a lift of his hands, Clay released the ball and backed away as Greg and Marcus both took to the air to knock the ball to their teammates. Marcus had a slight advantage because he was taller than Greg was.

The ball sailed through the air and was sent over to Lucas' hands. As soon as the ball touched his fingertips, he dribbled and began to run to the opposite side of the gym to try and score the first points of the game. When he managed to get down there, he was being covered by Thomas.

"Lucas, ball!" Brad shouted to him. He stood across from him on the other side of the basket. Lucas found Brad, but Nathan was aware at the play that they were trying to make.

Lucas was able to maneuver himself away from Thomas and shot the first three-pointer of the game. He shook his fist in the air as he ran back over as the ball was retrieved for take back.

Nathan shook his head as he raced Lucas and all the others back to try and make up for not going for Lucas. A part of him was mad at Tomas for letting Lucas get away. He was so passionate about always playing the perfect game that he couldn't stand when his own teammates screwed that up for him. Nathan was glad that his father couldn't watch what was going on right now.

As the game dragged on, both teams were excelling. Points were being scored, turnovers were taking place, and fouls were being called. The score was close and each time another basket was scored the players were pushing themselves harder to be the better team. The coach would nod his head to his staff members every so often, indicating that he was happy about the display from the boys.

Now, it was all down to this shot. The only two people who were in control of the outcome were Damien and Nathan. Nathan sent him a glare as he took his stance to defend the basket. His heart pounded against his chest like a drum as Damien continued to dribble the ball to the same rhythmic beat. When Damien stepped to the side, Nathan mimicked him like he was a mirror image of him.

Damien carefully looked to both sides to see if he could find a possible way to get away from Nathan. Each move that he made had to be swift because Nathan was right on top of him with retaliation. The screech of his sneakers echoed as he dribbled the ball forward.

Nathan tried to bump him without foul, but it didn't work in his favor. It felt like time froze as he watched as Damien skirt around him and make the final basket, declaring him the winner over him.

"Whoo! That's what's I'm talking about!" Damien shouted as he jumped in celebration. He gave his teammates high fives as he continued boasting about the fact that he won the game.

The whistle blew indicating that it was all over. "Red team wins. Great job today, boys. It's good to see all of our work paying off. You can head to the locker room and enjoy your weekend. Monday, we'll be discussing the practice game in more detail. We all took notes and there are still things that we could use some work on."

Nathan's breathing was heavy as he walked over to the locker room. He shrugged away Lucas and the others' praises. Before he ducked his head to hang it in shame, Nathan looked over to Haley. She had a hint of stun in her eyes and an apologetic look on her face. That was the last thing he paid attention to as he faded off in his own regret and disappointment.

* * *

><p>"God, I can't believe that I let Damien win the game. I've never had anyone get passed me to get to the basket. If my dad saw the way I just played, I'd be doing drills until I puked. Then he'd yell at me and make me start over because I puked." Nathan told Lucas angrily as they entered their room. He let out a frustrated sigh and sat on the foot of his bed. His elbows rested on his knees as his head rested in his palms.<p>

"It was just a practice game, so just don't let him hold this over your head. Take it from me, Damien has no problem using your mistakes against you." Lucas told him as he took off his t-shirt. His undershirt was pressed against his sweaty chest.

Nathan lifted his head. "Trust me, the last thing I'm going to do is let Damien West think that he's better than me. I'm going to kick his ass tonight and I'm going to get his money afterwards."

"Damn, Nate. I can't believe you let Damien win the game." Thomas exclaimed as he walk right on into the room. "I told Greg that you had him and you just let him slip right passed you. I mean, right passed you! Damn, man." Thomas let himself flop down on Nathan's bed.

"I'll make sure to shut the door next time." Lucas told nathan as he scratched his neck. He shook his head and let out a deep chuckle.

"At least you'll be making money later tonight. I'm going to start a side bet if you and Damien are matched up for the final game in the tournament. you want in, Luke?"

"I'm good." Lucas put his hand up to stop Thomas. "I'm going to throw on some clean clothes and then give my mom and girlfriend a call. Thomas, I think it'd be best if we gave Nathan some space."

"Man, don't get all emotional over this and everything." He sat up and gave Nathan a firm pat on the shoulder. "If you wanted me to leave, all you had to do was say so. No reason to bring your mom and girlfriend up. You can't rub that in forever, you know," Thomas pointed a finger to Lucas before getting up from the bed.

"I'll see you ladies tonight!" He called out as he walked down the hallway.

Lucas walked over to the door and closed it. He even made sure to lock it. "I don't how Greg can put up with him all the time."

Nathan let out a laugh. "I don't know how his own family puts up with him. I can't imagine how he would manage himself if girls were around."

Lucas nodded in agreement. "I am serious, though. I'm going to call up Brooke to see if she can come up this weekend. Is that okay with you?"

Nathan shrugged. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know. I know I probably annoy you whenever I talk about her and stuff. It's just that I miss her a lot. You know what that's like with Peyton, I guess. Maybe you should invite her up, too. That way Brooke won't feel obligated to talk to all of the guys and show them her charming personality."

He hadn't thought about inviting Peyton to visit because he didn't think that she would. She would make the long drive up there just to be around what she wasn't interested in. He hadn't really talked to Peyton as much as he promised her that they would. He could imagine calling her and that would be the first thing that she would comment on. There would be no 'hello' or 'how are you'. Instead, he would get a sarcastic drawl about him, once again, no keeping a promise to her. With that, he ignored the phone and webcam all together. An email could easily be erased.

"Let me see if I'm hearing you right. You just want me to get Peyton here so your girlfriend doesn't try to flirt or stare at any of the other guys. From her picture, I think you should worry more about what the other guys are going to do."

"Watch it." Lucas warned in a half-joking tone.

Nathan smirked while Lucas brought clean clothes into the bathroom to change into. He shook his head and stood up from his bed to check his computer. The camp had been so busy this past week that he barely had any time to see or talk to Haley.

When he logged on, he noticed that he only had one message. He didn't check it everyday and was surprised that Peyton and his father didn't drop a heavy load on his inbox. He checked to see what time that it was sent and it appeared to be around the same time that he was finishing up changing in the locker room.

_Nathan,_

_I know that you're probably beating yourself up over the final basket of the game. I wouldn't worry too much about it because it was just a practice game. Don't even think about telling me that it's more than that because I know that, too. You played really well today and you'll just have to get him back the next time. _

_I have to make this quick because I'm supposed to be cleaning up around the gym and stuff. Yeah, I'm such a rebel. Hopefully, we'll be able to see each other next week. Otherwise, I have no other social life. Lucky you, Scott. Talking to you without seeing your face isn't that hard either. What, you really think that I'm going to make you sound so important? I can practically see that smirk of yours slowly creeping up on your face. _

_Anyway, i just wanted to make sure that you were okay because I know how much seeing Damien lose means to you. I'm not a fan of the guy either. _

_Haley._

The bathroom door opened and Nathan quickly shut his laptop and pretended that he was looking out the window. Lucas came out, giving him a suspicious look.

"I don't want to know what you were doing, do I?" Lucas asked with disgust as he crossed the room to get over to his small dresser. He picked up his necklace and hooked it on. "A nice roommate would have waited until the other had left would also be a smarter move."

"It was nothing. I wasn't even talking to Peyton."

Lucas held his hands up in defense. "Whatever you say. I should be back in about an hour. My mom and Brooke like to talk about every little thing. Do we need to establish a special knock?"

Nathan picked up the pen on the desk and chucked it at Lucas. "Just go already!"

* * *

><p>The night was in full motion. Nathan had missed out on the get together last time and when he arrived late, the room wasn't crowded by all ten of the boys at the camp. Lucas didn't want to play and only tagged along because he didn't want to sit in the room, knowing that there was more excitement a few doors over.<p>

The next night Lucas wouldn't be feeling that way because he talked his girlfriend into coming up and visiting him. He told Nathan that he could stick around and hangout with them. There was a specific rule at High Flyers when it came to visiting girlfriends. They weren't allowed in the room unless the door was open. It was usually all boys and the staff knew exactly how they might act when girls is tied after not being around them for a while.

Nathan was able to win his first two brackets, knocking out Max and then Greg, who Thomas had no problem booing. The next player he was up against was Tony, who was very skillful on the court. He was one of the teammates who he was happy about having on his team. He still proved that he was just as skillful on the game system. Nathan could feel his hands ache and become stiff from hold onto the controller so forcefully. Last time, Tony was the overall winner and nathan felt the pressure that he needed to beat him. Like the few times before, Nathan was able to successfully win another game. He was close to losing it a couple of times, but his drive helped him overcome it.

He passed on the controller to whoever was next so he could take a break. He began to move his fingers in order to regain the feeling in them.

"That was quite a game." Tony commented.

"Thanks, you could have had me during the last seven minutes." Nathan told him as he shook his hand.

"Your comeback did surprise me. I wish that I could have seen that on the real court. It sucks that punk got the glory. You're too good for that. What happened out there?"

Nathan shrugged because he couldn't explain it. "I wish I knew. I thought I really had him until those last seconds."

"You did have him. If you pushed him a little harder, you would have had him. He sucks at free throws. He can't take the pressure of everyone watching him so intently."

"I know he does. Lucas mentioned it to me when I first met Damien."

"Then you should have let him charge you right back. He would have gotten the foul and you could have trashed talked your way into the win. If that were a real game I, know Damien or any other guy wouldn't have scored on you like that."

Tony was right. There was no excuse for how Nathan decided to play against Damien in the final scoring of the game. He knew Damien had a weakness, but he didn't even think of using it against him. What kind of player did that make him? He had to be more strategic if he wanted to impress any scouts or coaches in the future.

"I'll be sure to step it up."

Tony nodded. "I know you will. I'll make you do it." He brushed past Nathan and started talking to the others.

Nathan watched the next matchup. No matter how hard he tried to focus on the screen, he could help but think about other things. The main one was obviously about his ongoing competition with Damien. The guy sure knew how to drag things out. In the locker room, he was more rowdy and telling the others how it felt to be the one to beat Nathan Scott. That annoyed him a great deal. Even the way that Damien spoke his name just made Nathan want to hurl a punch at him. Anything to shut him up would make nathan's day more bearable.

Haley was the other person that was on his mind. He wished that he had replied to her saying that he was fine or that he would talk to her about it the next time they same each other, but he thought that sleep or watching television would take his mind off the game from that morning. If he were with her right now, he wouldn't be thinking solely on Damien or the game. Being around those two things wasn't helping him, but being around haley might. She wouldn't let him think about it about. Nathan would rather let Haley talk about whatever she wanted because it interested him. Her voice had a way of pushing everything else out of his mind.

"Nathan, you're up for the final!" Marcus shouted over to him. He held the controller straight up in the air.

Nathan snaked his way through the guys, wondering who he would be playing for the prize money. Through the quick clearing he had met his opponent.

"Ready to lose again?" Damien asked him cunningly.

Without a word, Nathan took the controller from Marcus and pressed the replay option on the game. If only he had that option that morning.

"Oh, I hate when people use the silent treatment." He snickered.

Damien began pressing buttons as he tried to take the ball away from Nathan's players. His eyes followed the smaller people on the screen intently. A curse slipped from his lips, when Nathan's team scored on him.

During the game, Nathan's stern look changed into a typical bragging smile. Each time he made a basket, he would make a comment out loud about Damien and the way he was playing now versus the time he played for real.

"You might want to get a better handle on your team. I'm only a few points away from beating you." Nathan told him.

"And I'm," Damien wildly began resign buttons to make his player make an impressive shot, "now tied with you and there's only twelve seconds left. Does this remind you of anything?"

His moment was here again and this time he couldn't let it slip away. If only this were a real game and he could shove Damien out of the way. It would have been entertaining if he pushed Damien to the floor and made a basket as Damien scurried like a terrified mouse to try and get up. Nathan chose against playing dirty because he wanted to win the way that didn't show that he was certain that Damien was going to win. He wasn't allowed to have anymore satisfaction over him.

"And that's game." Nathan told him cockily as he pressed the buttons on the controller to make his final shot before the buzzer sounded off.

"That's my boy!" Thomas shouted loudly as he threw his arm around Nathan's shoulder. He acted like him and Nathan were best friends. Nathan let him have the moment because his overall victory was much more appealing to him. "Nathan Scott is back!"

"You can smirk and act all high and mighty as you want to, Scott!" Damien's voice shouted over the congratulating shouts and shoulder pats from the other guys in the room.

"There's no need to be such a sore loser, West." Nathan told him as he accepted the stack of money from Tony. He placed it in his pocket. "Did you really think that just because you won a practice game that you'd be able to beat me again?"

"Winning a stupid video game gives you more pride? I never thought that The Great Nathan Scott was so low. Speaking of low, I was walking back to the building when I recognized a certain car in the parking lot. You know, the red one? Scratch that, I'm talking about the person who drives you around in it." This time the smirk dropped from Nathan's lips and formed on Damien's.

Nathan wanted nothing more than to confront Damien by grabbing the collar of his shirt and shoving him up against the wall. He had to contain his anger for himself and his future at High Flyers. There was so much riding on this and Damien obviously knew that or he wouldn't be saying it in a room full of people who were just starting to respect him as a basketball player and maybe even a friend.

Lucas looked over to Nathan with a confused look. He placed a hand on Nathan's shoulder and made firm eye contact with his. His voice was low to make sure that none of the other guys heard him."What's he talking about, Nate?"

Nathan's eyes darted against Lucas' similar blue ones. He swallowed the dry lump that was forming in his throat. The decision on whether or not to just tell Lucas was on the tip of his tongue and the only thing keeping him from letting the words come out was Haley.

* * *

><p><strong>I apologize for the time frame between updates. My laptop decided that it didn't want to work anymore the day I last posted anything. The next updated won't be as spaced out as this one.<strong>

**All your feedback is appreciated. Please Review! **


	7. Chapter 7

**7.**

"Nathan, what is Damien talking about?" Lucas repeated moments after not getting anything from Nathan. All he could do was watch as his roommate stood scared. What could Damien West possibly have on Nathan?

Nathan knew that it would just be easier if he didn't have to lie to Lucas. Since the first day at High Flyers Lucas had been nothing but a friend to him. They talked about anything with each other and the better part was that they didn't judge each other.

Looking to see if anyone else was paying attention, Nathan roughly shoved Damien out of his way so he could leave the room. He hoped Lucas would follow him. At this point, Nathan had made up his mind and if Lucas wasn't going to follow him, then he might switch his mind back.

"You can't keep playing it cool forever!" Damien shouted after him with a winning smirk on his face.

Lucas shook his head vigorously, before telling Tony that he and Nathan were heading off. When he left the room, he could see Nathan unlocking their door. Lucas decided not to try to catch up with him. Nathan needed some time to sort out whatever was causing him to freeze up. Lucas hadn't seen Nathan act that way since he let Damien score the final shot earlier that day.

Once making the short walk down the hall and walking in the room himself, Lucas caught Nathan standing by the window with his hands resting on the back of his neck.

"I thought you weren't going to let Damien get to you." Lucas commented bluntly.

"Yeah, well, Damien likes to be the star, even when he does lose." Nathan tried to joke as he stared dead straight out of the window, seeing nothing but darkness.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on or are we going to continue skirting around the subject?" Lucas asked as he sat on his bed and kicked off his shoes.

Nathan let out a sigh. This was it. No matter how Lucas was going to react, he just had to spit it out. He was going against Haley's wishes, but they both knew it would be much worse if Damien decided to spread the news.

"There's a reason why I haven't been really hanging out with you and the guys," Nathan started, "it's nothing that's going to ruin my basketball career or anything like that. I don't know if Coach James will kick me out of camp or anything either."

Lucas raised his brow. "Okay?"

"I've been hanging out with Haley in secret, lately." He confessed word by word. His blue eyes watched for Lucas to react.

"Coach's granddaughter, Haley? I thought you told me that nothing was going on between the two of you? And what about Peyton? She's your girlfriend." Lucas began firing questions at him, but his tone remained calm and collected. "I should have known you were up to something because I noticed that you were pulling yourself away and making up excuses lately."

Nathan dropped his hands and sat down on the chair by the window. "Nothing serious is going on with Haley. We're just friends, I guess. Peyton doesn't need to know anything. Luke, you have to promise me that you're not going to tell anyone, especially Thomas. That guy runs his mouth like a hyper child." He tried to joke, but it was difficult.

"I don't understand why it's such a big deal."

"You remember the day Coach James called me into his office, when Damien was talking to Haley?" He waited for Lucas to nod. "Well, he told me that he didn't want me talking to her. Evidently, Haley didn't want me talking to her, either. I don't know why it's such big problem with them. I should be respecting the coach, but I have a good time with Haley."

Lucas let out a large sigh. "It seems to me that Coach James is just protecting her from guys like us. I mean, we'll be leaving in a few short months."

"Yeah, whenever she mentions it, I just feel like there is a reason why I shouldn't be with her. That's probably it." Nathan shrugged. "Are we cool? You won't tell anyone?" Nathan asked him before presenting his fist for Lucas to hit with his own.

"Yeah, we are." Lucas bumped his fist. "Just so you know, you could have just told me from the beginning. It was obvious that you two have talked before."

"I probably should have. I just didn't know that it was going to be secretive then."

Nathan felt much more relaxed knowing that Lucas was completely fine with it, even with the lies he had told him before. He should have never doubted that he could trust Lucas after the short time they had spent together. Maybe things would be easier for him now that Lucas was on their side. Damien wasn't going to get to him after this.

"Now, I'm going to have to tell Haley that you know."

Lucas nodded. "Yeah, that might be a good idea." He started chuckling.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm just thinking about how she ran her mouth off at Damien that day. I wonder what she's going to say when she finds out that you told me your little secret." He laughed again.

Nathan stood up from his chair and grabbed Lucas pillow and swung it at the back of is head. He saw the wide grin that was still plastered on his face and walked away to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

He rested his hands on the marble sink. He looked up in the mirror to see his reflection. Of course, what Lucas had said worried him. He was pretty much worried even before then. This wasn't the first promise that he has ever broken and he was good at making people forget that they were even mad at him. That's how it used to work with Peyton. Haley was a different girl. He hadn't seen her angry ever. He didn't want to see her that way, but if he didn't tell her and she found out, then he probably would lose her for good.

* * *

><p>Nathan stood in the supply closet, with his hands folded across his broad muscular chest. He watched as Haley organized the closet. She did that often when she didn't know what to say when he was around her. It started to make Nathan think that it was a cute distraction for her. Not only was it cute, it was also becoming quite obvious to him why she was doing it.<p>

He didn't understand this girl. When the first met, Haley could fire up any conversation. Her attitude was strong and outgoing. Now, it was skittish and concealed. Nathan's intentions were to never make her feel that way. He liked when Haley was able to loosen up.

"Haley, I need to tell you something." His voice muttered when he found the courage to tell her what had happened last night.

She stopped what she was doing and turned to face him. Her potentially worry was forced away. Instead, it was replaced with a reassuring smile to let him know that he could talk to her about whatever was on his mind.

His fingers tapped on the basketball he was holding. Since it was causing a distraction, he placed it back on the rack that was next to him.

"What's going on, Nathan? Is it your dad? Peyton?" Haley asked him as she took a few steps closer to him.

"Um, no, thankfully, I haven't heard from either of them yet. It's more about Lucas."

"Lucas?" Haley crooked her neck to the side. "I thought you two were getting along? I mean, from what I've seen you two are practically inseparable." She noted nervously as her word didn't come out the way she wanted them to.

"We're fine. It's just," he let out a sigh, "I told Lucas about us hanging out."

"You told Lucas?" She asked him incredulously. "Nathan, you promised me that you weren't going to tell anyone about us being friends. What if he tells people? My grandfather is not going to like this when he finds out!"

"Haley, calm down." He found himself taking a few steps closer to her and wrapping his arms around her. "Lucas isn't going to tell people. He promised. Plus, he's a really trustworthy guy."

Haley let out a breath to relax herself. Being in Nathan's embrace was also comforting to her, but her walls built up again as she started thinking about where she was. She softly nudged him away. The feel of his strong chest against her fingertips caused her fingers to shake.

"So, what made you decided to tell Lucas?" She asked him as she took her eyes away from his tingling fingertips and his sculpted chest.

"Um, what?"

"Why'd you tell Lucas?" She asked him carefully. "I mean, it had to come up in the conversation somehow, right?"

"Oh," His arm reached backwards to scratch the back of his neck. He knew that he couldn't tell her about their gambling, so he tried his best to improvise without having to lie to her. "About that. We went to Tony's and we were playing around and Damien was there."

"Something tells me that I'm not going to like where this is headed." Haley cut in at the mention of Damien's name.

_Probably not. _"You know how guys can be, we throw words around to talk each other down and," Nathan was finding it hard to think straight while all of his world jumbled through his head.

"Smack talk? I'm well aware of that. You do know I work at a basketball camp?" She told him as her impatience for his reasonings began to stir up. "Please, just get on with the point where you decided to tell Lucas."

He let out a nervous chuckle. "Okay, Lucas and I were about to leave when Damien mentioned that...Wait,"

"Nathan?" She let out an annoyed sigh.

"I'm sorry. Before, I tell you I should make note that Damien may have saw us when you dropped me off after we saw the movie."

"What? Di-did he say anything to anyone?"

Nathan shook his head. "Nobody besides me. Getting to the point, Damien was really close to telling the entire room that it was you that he's been seeing me with." He winced at his own confession.

"He knows too? Great, this is just what I expected was going to happen. I knew that hanging out was going to cause a mess of problems." She rand her hands through her long hair.

"I had to tell Lucas after he tried to make a big scene over it. I didn't want anyone to know about us. You have to at least believe me about that." Nathan didn't know if he should try and reach out for her because he didn't want to be rejected.

"I never said that I didn't believe you, Nathan." She closed her eyes and took in a breath, trying to piece together everything that Nathan had just confessed to her. "I just really hate that my prediction about all of the was true. I really like that we've become friends and talking. I don't want to lose that now that we have started."

"We don't have to, Haley. No one else is going to find out, unless Damien tells. He's not going to unless I achieve more than he does here."

That was what she was afraid of. The rivalry between them could potentially screw up Nathan's game while he was here. He was meant to come here for the summer and he wasn't going to throw it all away over a mere friendship. There was just too much for him to risk because of it.

"You're not going to change the way you play. You can't. I've watched you and you're really good. Probably, the best here." Haley admitted to him.

"I don't know how else I'm going to keep West's mouth shut, Haley."

Nathan didn't want to jeopardize his basketball talent, either. It was one of the only things that brought him confidence, sometimes too much. High Flyers was supposed to be for basketball and basketball only. His attitude was driven towards shoving his natural talent in his opponent's faces. Damien was just like the rest of them. If his father ever found out what was really going on during his summer, Nathan knew that the long ride home would kick his ass big time.

Haley bit down on her lip. "I don't think you should do anything. I know that will egg him on, but I think my grandfather and everyone else will notice that something is off with you. You do agree with me about that, right?"

Nathan nodded. "I don't want to. It doesn't seem like it, but I really need to be here." His voice became softer.

"So, where are you dragging me off to today, James?" He found his comfort again and sent her his infamous smirk.

She let out a laugh, that was supposed to be a scoff. "I think my mind has changed. We need to go somewhere that will take our minds off of everything and I know just the place."

* * *

><p>Her car pulled off to the side of a dirt road. With a smile she turned to face her passenger. "We're here."<p>

Nathan raised his brow. Where were they? He looked out his window and tried to look as far ahead as he could. All he could see were a long path through grass which seemed to lead to a sea of never ending trees. Nathan turned to Haley, who was still looking at him with a smile on her face. "Are you sure you're not really mad at me for telling Lucas? It seems like you brought me here to kill me and I think you've done this before." Nathan joked with her.

Haley shook her head. "Nathan, I'm okay. Sure," she shrugged, "I'm not one-hundred percent happy about the situation, but I have no intentions to murder you. Come on," she motioned for him to follow her as she quickly removed her seatbelt and stepped out of the car.

He copied her actions and began following her down the path. He couldn't help but look back to where her car sat on the deserted road. When he looked back to her, she had stopped walking.

"Nathan, you'll be fine." She walked forward and grabbed his hand. The feeling of his calloused hand wrapped around hers was the only thing that was going to be trapped inside her head. Haley didn't want to let go of his hand, but she couldn't because he had a girlfriend.

As Haley pulled him along, Nathan couldn't stop looking at their joined hands. Hers was smaller than his, but it fit comfortably into his. The best idea for him was to not think about the fact that Haley's hand was trapped within his. He did his best to bring his eyes to her, which only made matters worse. In front of him, he could only see the back of her body. Her wavy hair gently moved as she briskly walked ahead of him. His natural response was to lick his dry lips at the sight of her hips moving. Peyton was rather thin, so she lacked hips and the curves that other girls had. Haley had the whole package and it was a shame that she hid it under a sweatshirt and sweatpants. She would look amazing it tight clothes, but the whole natural athlete look was definitely working for her. It worked with him, too.

Haley stopped again and Nathan immediately averted his eyes and paid attention to her.

"I usually come here by myself, but I thought we could both use some tranquility. That probably sounds corny to you, huh?"

Nathan shook his head. "No, but what do you do here? Do you just stand here?"

Haley shook her head. Haley swallowed. The last memory of her being in this spot was when Jason had left her for the summer, taking her heart with him. "There was one time that I spent a long time just walking the path and it led me to this small pond. I would never had found it if I didn't keep walking. My heavy thoughts would have stopped me from finding it. Cliche enough, it taught me to throw my heavy conscious out of the way." She found herself dropping his hand, "what was on your mind the entire time we were walking?"

_You. Peyton. Peyton's body. Your body. You. _He took in her every word. Nathan wanted to make another joke about her dragging him off to kill him somehow, but he couldn't after her pure honesty with him. His throat let out a small croak as he opened his mouth to speak. "I don't know."

Her lips formed another smile. This one was more sweeter than just out of plain joy. "That's because you weren't thinking. Surprised that it worked?"

His head nodded, almost like he wasn't the one controlling his brain. "So, we're in the middle of nowhere just to forget everything for a little while? When we go back, all our thoughts are just going to come pouring back."

"They easily could or you could just think about the amazing place I brought you to?" Her shoulders shrugged again.

_"That's a shame because you were missing out on some pretty breathtaking scenery." _

"Nathan?" She waved her hand in front of his face. "Don't get too lost." Her voice ringed in his ears as he snapped himself out of his reverie.

He mumbled an apology to her before following her again. They walked further down the path until Haley found a decent spot for them to sit. Nathan sat down next to her with his feet planted on the ground in front of him as she crossed her legs underneath her. Her fingers began playing with the grass. It wasn't long before his jinxed her at picking at the weak, fragile earth.

Her eyes traveled over to his hands. His fingers fumbled around in the grass. A small smile graced her lips at the sight. It reminded her of a bored little boy, who was stuck outside with nothing to do and had no friends around.

"It's different for me."

His head turned to face her and his hands stopped in the grass. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I usually come here alone. I don't have to talk when it's just me. I'm not saying that I feel the need to talk to you and we should force a conversation. It's not that I don't want to talk to you, either, because I do. I enjoy it. I've already told you that plenty of times." Haley began to ramble.

"It's okay," he chuckled at her fast talking. "I like talking to you, too."

She nodded. "Um, I never got a reply last night to your email, not that I was expecting one." She rushed out. Last night she kept wondering if Nathan had seen her email. She guessed that he didn't want a remaindered of what happened during the game because a few of the guys were either gloating about it or giving him grief about it. That part annoyed her because all she wanted to know was how Nathan was doing.

"Yeah, I didn't have much time to answer it. Luke and I were pretty much getting ready to head over to Tony's. I wish I had the right answer as to why I let him get past me. Playing like crap, isn't me. That's not what got me here."

She placed her hand on his arm to comfort him. "You didn't play like crap in the game."

He shook his head in disagreement. "I did. When my dad finds out about it, I know he's going to be paying me a visit just so he can wring my neck over it."

Haley took her hand off of his arm. "I ruined it already. I'm sorry. I'll change the subject."

"Shocked to see me unhappy?" He found himself asking her. "People usually see me as this cocky, arrogant jock who has the greatest life. I throw parties and drink with my friends and my dad knows about it. We'd be kicked off the team if my coach ever found out. He bribes my coach with my athletic ability to keep me from expulsion from the team." He confessed.

Haley didn't understand how parents could treat and use their own children. She was thankful and blessed that she was born into a family that cared so much about each other.

"You must like being away from all of that then."

Nathan nodded again. "It's good to be away for a summer. I used to be in camps, but they were the ones that you would go visit on certain days and times and then return back home until you got to go back again. Those were the best hours of my life, until my dad decided to stay and watch."

"Well, he won't get to touch you here. Coach wouldn't be able to stand having people sitting in the gym and watching."

Nathan shrugged. "What about your dad?"

"My dad, like my grandfather, is very protective of me. He actually called me and asked me if any of the guys were bother me."

"And what did you say?"

"I said no."

He grinned. "I thought I was getting on your nerves."

"Only a little bit," she joked and gave him a slight shove. "It was your persistent that I couldn't stand."

"Most people like that about me."

Haley found herself blushing. "Anyway, my father is much more laid back than yours. He can be embarrassing, like most dads are, too. At the end of the day, I still accept that he's mine."

She had an easy life. It was a life that Nathan wished he had a chance of having. Living with Dan was like living with a drill sergeant. Nothing made Nathan accept the fact that Dan Scott was an actual father to a child.

As the afternoon passed, the sky became a shade of pink. It illuminated off of Haley's cheek to masquerade her blushing. She was glad that she brought him here. She found herself not thinking about how Jason tainted this place for her. Haley didn't think about Jason at all. Her mind wasn't blank like she wanted it to be either. Nathan was burrowing in a permanent place and she wasn't trying to fight it anymore.

* * *

><p>Nathan met up with Lucas in the cafeteria that night when he returned from his day with Haley. Lucas was already sitting at the table with empty wrappers from dinner. A few napkins were balled up and on the table.<p>

"Well, at least she didn't kill you. That is, if you even told her." Lucas joked as Nathan took a seat across from him.

"No, I told her. Obviously, she wasn't too happy with me at first. Once I told her about Damien, she sort of calmed down a bit. Then she got pissed at Damien." Nathan shrugged because he felt like it he was no longer the one Haley had a problem with.

"I didn't think you would be gone for the entire day. What did you two do, anyway?" Lucas asked him.

Nathan shrugged. "We just hung out, you know? She took me to this field and we went for a short walk and then we talked."

"Wow. Sounds like you two had a great day. Did you also share your feelings to one another?" Lucas joked.

"Ha." Nathan deadpanned. "I could picture that commented from Thomas, but not you. I thought you understood."

"I do, but the way it looks makes it seem like it was more than what you two think it was." Lucas pointed out to Nathan.

"It wasn't. We're strictly friends. I'm still with-"

"Yeah, yeah, with Peyton. I know. I'd rather talk about my girlfriend back home, if you don't mind. She's really excited about coming here next weekend. I was thinking that you could introduce her to Haley. Do you think they would hit it off? I'm only asking you because you're the one who's spending time with her and I'm sure Haley would like not being the only girl around here."

"I could ask her, but I don't know. Brooke seems more girly than Haley does. You probably are right about her feeling better about not being the only girl, but I don't think a part of Haley's job is to hang out with our girlfriends while they visit us." Nathan could just picture how awkward it would be for Haley to be introduced to Peyton and having to spend the day with her. Peyton wasn't really one to have girl days.

"I know that. It would give them a chance to get to know each other and keep the others away from Brooke." Lucas told him in a matter-of-fact tone.

"How did she react when you told her that a certain blast from the past, Damien West, was also at High Flyers?" Nathan asked him with a smug smile on his face.

Lucas' face dropped.

"You didn't tell her, did you?" Nathan asked as he stretched in his seat. "Here, I thought you were all about honesty?"

Lucas rolled his eyes as he picked up his garbage to pitch it into the trash. He muttered, "I hate you, sometimes," as he got up and walked away.

Nathan let out a tired sigh. So much had happened to him in the past two days. he was looking forward to having a regular Sunday that consisted of going to the gym and then sitting around in his room watching college basketball games with a few of the guys. Then it would be ruined by talking to his father about the practice game. The final task would be checking his email and seeing messages from Peyton and then, hopefully, one from Haley.

He really enjoyed their day together and he knew that she felt the same way. He could see it on her face that she was happy and more comfortable around him than earlier. She was able to look past all the bluster about Damien and Lucas knowing they were seeing each other. Haley was able to share a part of her world with him, even though he wouldn't always be around to experience it. The next time he saw her he was going to make sure that he told her just because the summer was going to end, that all the ties between them were still going to be bound.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for the reviews last chapter. Lately, I have been annoyed with FanFiction because the server never seems to work whenever I try and log on. I hope by the time I post this that it will be working!<strong>

**I aslo made another change to my updating schedule. I will only be working on 2 out of my 4 stories at a time to give myself more time to get stories completed. **

**Can't Buy Me Love- Saturdays**

**Crash-Mondays**

**Steal Your Heart and Forbidden are both on temporary hiatus. **

**Thank you for taking the time to read my stories! **


	8. Chapter 8

**8.**

The week unfortunately didn't fly by for Nathan. Between having to report back to his father and having to deal with Damien at practices, Nathan was worn. Downtime was the only thing keeping Nathan going.

Just as Nathan thought, his father was far from pleased with his performance. His father accused Nathan of not focusing on what was important and guessed that Peyton had everything to do with it. Dan could think of any reason as an excuse as to why Nathan had failed him. Usually, it aggravated Nathan. This time Nathan decided to ignore his father because the distance made it easier for him to forget and his father not being able to breathe down his neck was a definite plus.

Damien didn't make his time here any easier either. Since Haley was always at practice, Damien would look at her or make comments about her just to get under Nathan's skin and hey were working because the Haley that he was getting to know sounded nothing like the one that Damien was trying to picture. Nathan was glad that Haley would never go for a guy like Damien. Any girl that thought Damien was worth it needed to get their priorities checked or rewritten altogether.

Nathan wasn't the only one looking forward to this weekend. Lucas' girlfriend, Brooke was going to be arriving tonight. Nathan has never seen Lucas so excited about anything, besides basketball. All week Lucas told Nathan about her and the other guys to not get any ideas. There were times when Nathan would listen to how Lucas would talk so positively about her that he wondered how he would ever tell people about Peyton. She was pretty much Brooke's complete opposite. Brooke had a bubbly personality, she was a cheerleader, the president of her student council, and had a love for fashion and going out to party. The only thing they had in common was that they both had a bitchy side. Nathan could joke that Peyton's was always apparent.

After practice that day, Lucas had gone back to their room to shower. Before he left he asked Nathan to talk to Haley. SInce Lucas knew about him and Haley, Lucas hadn't made any kind of indication towards Haley. No words have been exchanged between the yet and Nathan hoped that Lucas could try and make the effort this weekend when Brooke was here. This promise was the easier to keep because Nathan wanted to talk to Haley anyway. Getting any kind of answer from her about why she didn't warm up to the idea of being friends first was his main focus. At first, he let it slide because Haley didn't want to talk about it. Now, he thought that Haley was comfortable enough to tell him. When it seemed that everyone had left, Nathan walked out of the locker room and back into the gym to see if Haley was still putting empty water bottles and the balls away.

"Hey," Nathan greeted her with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his Adidas warmups.

Haley was digging between the bleachers and seemed startled when she heard him. Standing up, She moved her hair that was in her face. "Hey," she said smiling, "I didn't think you'd still be here."

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, it's been a long week for me, but you already knew that."

"You're recent email was pretty wordy. Usually, I'm the one who types you out an entire novel." She joked. "So, what's up?"

"I mentioned that Lucas' girlfriend when going to be coming here to visit and Lucas wants her to feel welcome. By welcome, he hopes that it's not just by the guys."

"Let me guess, he wants me to hang out with her?" She moved her hair across her shoulder blade as she took a seat on the bleachers. "This is definitely not one of my ordinary summer's here." She told him.

Nathan set his bag on the floor and sat next to her. "But, it's got to be better than just working around here all the time, right?" He nudged her with his shoulder.

"No argument, there. What's she like?"

"From what Lucas repeatedly tells me," Nathan paused as Haley chuckled and covered her mouth. He smirked at the sight. "She's very outgoing in more ways than one."

"She sounds like fun." Haley crossed her legs.

Haley felt a bit weird about meeting Lucas' girlfriend when she barely even knew Lucas. During the week, she tried to grow some confidence and talk to him. Her bravery only lasted so long because it seemed that she was dropping all of her and her grandfather's rules to not get to know any of the players personally. With Nathan, she found herself going beyond all of her boundaries.

It would be different having a girl to talk to, but Haley didn't really know if they were going to get along. Growing up with her sisters wasn't always easy for Haley. She was the youngest of the James' girls and her older sisters often thought that Haley was an annoying little sister. As they grew up, Haley only grew closer to one of her sisters, Quinn. She loved all of her siblings, but that didn't mean she couldn't stand them either.

Nathan shrugged. "I guess so. I wish I could give you more details about Brooke, but it's all either mushed together or I finally was able to tune Lucas out." He joked.

Haley shrugged. "He's just excited about seeing her. Wouldn't you be happy if Peyton was coming up to visit?"

_Probably not. _

She waited for his answer in the silence. "Nathan, you do miss Peyton, don't you?"

Nathan turned to look at her. She was looking back at him with her rich brown eyes that went with her slightly tanned skin. "Honestly? I haven't really been talking to Peyton. I promised her right before I left that when I got home that our relationship was going to be better and lately, I haven't been thinking about her. Our relationship isn't like a glamourous love story. Actually, I don't think I'm even-" He stopped at the realization. Nathan Scott had never told a girl that he loved her. With Peyton, he didn't really feel anything emotionally.

She hadn't expected him to talk that deeply about it. Haley was only expecting a simple yes or no answer. Nathan Scott certainly had a great amount of depth to him. Haley only saw it by the way he played and now she was experiencing it through his words. Her hands laced together at the sudden feeling of awkwardness.

"Um, I'm sure you'll be able to work it out." She said, trying to give him some advice.

Nathan grunted and shook his head. "It's whatever. Like I said, I don't really think too much about it."

Haley nodded. "Okay," she cleared her throat, "I should get back to what I'm supposed to be doing. You should probably go."

Nathan nodded in agreement. He thought they're conversation was going well until he practically told Haley that he wasn't in love with his own girlfriend. That was the only thought that was playing in his mind now. Maybe that was why they could never work. Did Peyton feel the same way or was he just dragging her along while she put more into the relationship than he did. Something was keeping them together and he never cared to figure out what it was.

"I guess I'll see you around later. I'll tell Lucas that you don't mind hanging around with Brooke this weekend." Nathan stood up and picked up his bag. Walking out of the gym, he threw it over his shoulder.

Haley let out a long sigh as she watched the doors close behind Nathan. She let her hands travel through her long hair.

* * *

><p>"Haley has no problem with hanging out Brooke. I just hope that they get along." Nathan told Lucas after he had finished chaining into clean clothes for the day.<p>

Lucas responded by nodding. "I'm sure they will. Broke gets along with people easily. It's all in her personality and charm."

"Listen, now that you know about Haley I was wondering f you could do me a favor. Think of it as a way for repaying me with potentially helping you get the guys away from Brooke and making use she doesn't get bored." Nathan told him.

"Okay?" Lucas rose his brow. "I don't know where I'm going to fit in with this, but lay it on me."

"I know that you said you're okay with and you wouldn't tell anyone, but now that you do know I was hoping that you'd help cover for me when I go to see her. You were suspicious and I bet that Greg and Thomas were, too. They didn't say anything about Damien to me all week so, I don't know if...and if the coach finds out that-"

"Nathan," Lucas put his hand up to stop him from running his mouth. He chuckled at his friend's nervousness. "Do you need to sit down?"

"Sorry," Nathan muttered as he sat down on his bed. "I have a lot on my mind right now."

"I can tell. Is that all you want from me?"

"Actually, I was hoping that you'd get to know Haley or at least talk to her. I know we're supposed to avoid her but, it's know of hard to do that now. Is there a reason why you haven't talked to her yet?"

"What am I supposed to say to her? 'Hi, I'm Lucas, and I heard that you and Nathan are secretly hanging out. I'm your coverup guy.'" Lucas told him dryly.

"God, I hope you wouldn't say that to her. You sound like moron." Nathan joked at Lucas' impression. While laughing, he threw his pillow at Lucas. "She'll probably feel weird about talking to you, too. Just talk to her briefly when you introduce her to Brooke. From the way, you've been talking about her, she'll probably just do all of the talking and Haley won't even notice that you're there." He chuckled again.

Lucas was about to chuck the pillow back over to nathan when a loud knock on the door made him jump out off his bed. He instantly smiled at the thought of seeing his girlfriend after a few weeks. "All right, no checking her out." He turned to Nathan before opening the door.

"Hey, Pretty Girl." Lucas greeted his girlfriend. He went in to give her a hug, but she pushed him away.

"Don't you Pretty Girl me, Lucas Roe!" Brooke poked him hard in the chest before opining behind her. "When did you think it was the right time that Damien West was also here? I just ran into that creep in the hallway!"

Lucas stuttered as he scratched his neck.

"Well?" Her hands rested on her hips.

Nathan couldn't help but hold in his laugh. If any of the guys could see how Lucas looked right now and here him stuttering, he probably wouldn't be living this down until the camp was over. Nathan didn't know if we going to be able to help Lucas out with this one, but he could at least try.

Nathan got up and walked over to them. Brooke was no doubt one that the guys would be staring at. It was no wonder Lucas was so concerned about that. Her brown hair was curled and she wore jeans and a tank top with a zip up hoodie over it.

"I'm Nathan Scott, Lucas' roommate." Nathan stuck out his hand to greet her.

Brooke took her her leering eyes away from Lucas and smiled over to Nathan. Her dimples became more apparent when she did. "I'm Brooke Davis, Lucas' maybe ex-girlfriend." She told him as she shook his hand. "You're pretty hot, by the way. Do you have a girlfriend because I might be single in the next thirty seconds." Her hazel eyes sent a staggering glare over to Lucas.

"You were right, Luke. She's quite the girl."

"Yeah," Lucas muttered. He gave Nathan a thankful look.

Brooke turned her attention back to Lucas. "Is Damien West still his jackass self?"

"Of course he is and he didn't have a problem remembering who you were. Luckily, he's more of Nathan's problem right now." Lucas patted Nathan on the shoulder.

"Oh, what's he done to you?" Brooke asked.

"He's jut messing with me because I'm the better basketball player than he is. It's nothing I can't handle."

"Let's just hope that you handle it better than Lucas did. Did he tell you that he almost got kicked out of the game for starting a brawl? Sure, it was to defend me, but he didn't need to start that whole scene."

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, he told me all about it."

"Yeah, I defended you. You shouldn't be upset over that." Lucas added. He managed to wrap his arm around Brooke's shoulders. He relaxed when she didn't try and swat him away.

"No, I'm upset because you could have been thrown out of the game. Lucas is an amazing basketball player and I know that his talent is going to get him far." Brooke said with a smile as she snuggled close to Lucas.

The way Brooke was able to talk about how great of a basketball player Lucas was made him wish that Peyton was able to tell people that about him. Peyton would just roll her eyes when the topic came up and she would force a smile whenever somebody payed him with a compliment on his talent.

"So, how was you're ride?" Lucas asked as he looked down to her.

"Long and kind of boring. I am happy to be here though because I could;y stand not seeing my boyfriend for an entire summer." Brooke said as she kissed Lucas on the cheek. Lucas pulled her in for a full kiss, causing Brooke to slightly moan.

All Nathan could do was stand in his spot and look down to the floor. Even though he was happy for Lucas, Nathan felt like he was in some kind of funk.

Pulling away, Brooke blushed and burned herself into Lucas' chest. She had missed him over the past few weeks. They had gone from seeing each other everyday to only calling each other every few. The visit here was important to hr because she wanted to make sure that their relationship was still strong.

She cleared her throat, "So, what do you guys do around here?"

"Let's see, we go to practice, we workout in the gym, we eat, and we sit around in here." Nathan told her. "It's nothing fancy."

"That definitely sounds like what it would be like if you went to cheer camp. Well, minus the cheerleaders and bonfires, and the actual fun stuff." Brooke looked around the plain room and frowned. "Lucas, you told me that you were having a good time here."

"I am. I hang out with the guys and we went to the pool and hot tub once. Nathan's just making it seem like all work and no play."

"There's a hot tub? I didn't bring my swimsuit, not like that's stopped us before." She said lowly as she lifted her chin to look at Lucas seductively.

"Then I guess you and I have plans this weekend."

Nathan shook his head. "I'm going to head down and grab a bite. You guys might want to join me just incase someone notices that you two are up here alone."

"Which is such a stupid rule. I'm all for the sneaking around and everything, but you guys might as well be sitting in a jail cell."

"Quite the charmer, too." Lucas joked.

* * *

><p>Lucas set down Brooke's food in front of her. She looked up to him with a look of disgust. "They expect you to eat this?" She asked him as she held up a greasy fry. When it dropped, she rubbed her fingers together. "Boyfriend, that's disgusting."<p>

"I disagree." He titled his head back and shoved a few fries into his mouth. The he leaned over and tried to kiss Brooke on her blushed cheek.

She pushed him away. "Don't even think about it, mister." Brooke squealed when Lucas' wet lips hit her cheek.

"Aren't you to just the poster children for PDA?"

Nathan turned his head when he saw Haley standing behind him.

"And you are?" Brooke said with a frown.

"This is Haley. She's Coach James' granddaughter and works around the campus." Lucas explained to her.

"Another thing that you didn't tell me about. What else you got, Lucas?"

Haley chuckled. "It's nothing like that, I promise."

"You seem to know these two pretty well. Have a seat and dish the dirt about this one to me." She told her as she pointed over to Lucas.

Haley took a seat beside Nathan. "You must be Brooke."

Brooke nodded. "You've heard of me?"

"Yeah, Lucas told me that you were coming this weekend and he wanted to introduce us. He thought that it would be a good idea that you had a chance to spend some time with another girl while you were here so you weren't around the guys all the time." Haley explained to her.

Nathan looked over to her, amazed on how smoothly she was able to to tell Brooke a white lie. He was actually surprised to see Haley come up to them. She was trying and Nathan couldn't ask for anything more or less from her.

"Did he now?" She rose her brow towards Lucas.

"That's right," Lucas rested his arm across Brooke's shoulders. "I don't want you to get bored."

"Me? Luke, I hang out with you and your basketball friends all the time. I don't think this group of guys would be any different. The only person I have a problem with is Damien."

"You know Damien, too?" Haley asked in amusement.

"Unfortunately, the creep hit on me while he was in the middle of playing a basketball game. The mere thought of him makes my skin crawl." Brooke shuddered.

"He hit on me, too. I think it was on the first day of actual practice. He's like the cockiest boy I've had the unpleasure of meeting in a while."

During the rest of the meal, the girl talked back and forth about how they didn't like the rude things that guys do or say to them. They even shared a few laughs. There wasn't any doubt that they were going to get along this weekend. Lucas mouthed a thank you over to both Nathan and Haley.

"I didn't think you two would hit it off over Damien West." Lucas chimed in. "Who knew the bastard was actually good for something."

* * *

><p>"I've noticed something." Nathan spoke up when Lucas went to say goodbye to Brooke, who was going back to her hotel room. "Actually, I've noticed it for a few days now."<p>

Haley rose her brow. "What's that?"

Nathan let out a deep sigh as he gained the courage to talk to her about this. He could tell that it might be a touchy subject for her. He didn't want to say anything to push her into telling him what it was. "Haley, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Before, when you weren't so certain about us having out and stuff was that because you know that I'll be leaving? I don't think it's going to end abruptly just because I'm not going to be around. We can still email and call."

She wished that was what Jason had told her before he left. It would have changed the outcome for the end of the summer. Maybe their relationship would have lasted longer and she wouldn't feel so heartbroken that she had fallen in love with a jerk.

"You never know what's going to happen, Nathan. Friendships fade away easier that you think. Feelings change or they weren't real to begin with and before you know it, you've lost someone that was important in your life." She didn't want to go into the details about her summer yet. If they were going to have a friendship, Haley was going to have to be more honest with Nathan. Nathan didn't seem to be keeping anything on the light side with her, which indicated to her that her company actually meant something to him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> I was a bit iffy about this chapter because it was hard for me to find flow. This is the third version of this chapter and I'm sticking by it. I am going to take some time away from this one to try and make it better again. I feel that it clearly needs it after this chapter.

Thank you, to those of you who are still reading, subscribing, and review for my stories. I will either post the next chapter of **_Can't Buy Me Love _**later today or sometime tomorrow. My enjoyment to update that story is still luckily strong.

Please Review!


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